Breaking Through
by GCCGG4
Summary: Bella is just trying to get through the summer. But the world is making it very difficult for her. Will Edward show her it's not as complicated as she thinks or will she prove him wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys. So I was looking through my files and I came across this story that I started writing a couple of years ago. I read it, changed some names, and decided to make it an Edward/Bella story. There are several original characters in here. I don't know when I'll be able to get back to my other stories, but I'm trying to find some sort of inspiration to write them again. So please read and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I don't own Edward either. If I did... well, it may be better that I didn't. :)**

**Prologue**

I never thought that I would make it to where I am today. It's actually very interesting really. Throughout my entire life I've felt like I've had to prove myself to people, whether it to was my family, friends, teachers, or even my home town. I guess you're sort of confused. My name is Isabella Swan, or Bella, and I'm eighteen years old. I had just recently graduated high school, and was going to Yale next fall to become a lawyer for DHS. I had worked very hard to get accepted much less afford to actually get to go. That would be why I worked two jobs: Subway and Lee's Diner. They weren't much on their own, but together I made quite a bit of money. Not to mention the occasional baby-sitting job.

I was right when I thought my life would change, and boy did it ever. It's just that I didn't think it would change the way that it did. I also didn't think it would change just two weeks after graduation. The day I had the sudden urge to get an icee from the 7-11 at nine in the morning would change the way I viewed the world forever. That is the day I met him . . . Edward Cullen.

**Short. I know. But the next chapter is longer. It will be a while before Edward is introduced, but I promise he will be in this story. For those of you who don't know what DHS is it's the Department of Human Services. Bella wants to defend the children against the parents. Please leave me some reviews!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope you guys liked the last chapter. I don't know when I'll have more time to post the others, but I'll try to get them up as soon as I can.**

**Still don't own anything. I do own the movies though. And the books.**

**Chapter One**

I had just gotten home from work on a Saturday, which is supposed to be my day off, but hey I needed the money. So I agreed when Mattie called, and asked if I would come in for her because she was "sick". I didn't know why she called in today. She's leaving tomorrow anyway. I got out of my piece of shit car that my dad bought me for my sixteenth birthday. My car is one of the very few expensive things he bought me that I actually use on a daily basis.

On my way into the house I tripped over one of my brother's Power Rangers. Now, I already had a shitty day so this just topped it off. First, I get called in at seven in the morning (I mean seriously. Who in their right mind goes to work during summer vacation at seven in the damn morning on a Saturday . . . oh yeah, me). Then Trevor, the new kid that I was training to take my spot, spilled syrup on my shirt. Not to mention the seven coffee spills that ended up on my brand new work pants, three chocolate milk disasters that wound up in my shoes, and one sick little kid, who couldn't get out of the booth in time, decided to use me instead of the bathroom. As to which Lee, my boss, gave me the okay to go home.

Now, this red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger had to be the icing on top of the cake. I picked up the toy, and stomped into the house where my five-year-old brother was watching Power Rangers. Shocking, I know. I threw the toy at him, was about to rip him a new one, and the only thing he had to say was, "Yes, yes! You found him!"

I just stood there mouth wide open, and totally speechless while he sat there looking so cute and innocent watching the Power Rangers. So I just forgot the whole thing, and dropped my keys and purse on the counter.

"I'm going to take a shower," I said to my sister who's just glued to the computer.

"Kay," Brittney, my sister, mumbled.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Mom was called in, and Mama, Rhonda and the kids went home," she replied.

"Have you guys eaten?" I asked.

"No," she said.

"Okay. After I get out of the shower I can either go to the store and get something so I can cook. Or we can all go out to eat," I suggested. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to go out," she said turning around to look at me.

"Okay, you guys get dressed, and you better be ready by the time I am or I'm leaving you," I threatened.

"Whatever," she said annoyed.

I went to my room, sat down in the chair next to my desk, and hung my head in my hands. It had been a long day. I looked up to see the picture that I took with Brittney when I was five. I was smiling while she was pouting, as usual, but looking back I guess she did have a reason to be upset. My dad, Charlie, and my step-mom, Mindy, were taking us to get our pictures taken. Now, this was during the time where I actually liked Mindy. Anyway, Mindy promised Brittney that she wouldn't leave her because she was nervous. About halfway through the photo shoot Mindy left. Of course, this caused Brittney to become upset thus the pout in the picture. That would be the first time I started to not like that woman. I know it may not seem like it to Brittney, but I am protective of her. It's just that I don't do it while she's around.

After I got out of the shower I put on my favorite midnight blue, v-neck, short-sleeved shirt, a pair of jeans, and black boots. I threw on some make-up, dried and curled my hair, and was ready to go.

"Are you done yet?" Brittney impatiently asked.

"Yeah, yeah keep your pants on," I fired back.

Brittney rushed out to the car leaving Alex on the porch by himself. I sighed, grabbed my purse and keys, and picked up Alex. When I got to the car I put him in his booster seat, and got in myself. I started driving to the city because there weren't any good restaurants in Haven.

"Where do you guys want to eat?" I asked. "Absolutely no McDonalds Aaron," I said to him.

"Nina's sounds good to me," Brittney suggested.

"Alex, does Nina's sound okay to you?" I asked him.

"I don't care," he said pouting.

"Nina's it is then," I said sighing.

That night I decided to go out with Mattie and Tawny. We were going to our usual spot which was the practice field behind Ivory Middle School. We started hanging out there after we made the school softball team. When we graduated we had decided to come here more often than usual since I was leaving them at the end of the summer. And as per tradition, we would pick up any left off conversation that we had the last time. This time it was about (surprise, surprise) boys.

"We went through four years of high school, and you didn't have one boyfriend," Mattie ranted. "What's up with that?" she asked me.

"Okay one: there isn't one decent guy in this god forsaken town. And two: you know how I feel about relationships," I said quietly.

"The fact that you're scared shitless of relationships didn't stop you from sleeping with Weston," Tawny shot at me.

"You just had to bring that up didn't you?" I screamed. "We were both drunk, and you two left me alone with him knowing what was going to happen!" I yelled defending myself and trying to remember that foggy night. "I still can't remember what happened," I said laughing.

"We only did it because you seriously needed to get laid," Mattie said.

"And I'm not going to do it again until I get out of this god damn town," I said honestly.

"You are such a goody-goody. It makes me sick sometimes," Tawny said kind of disgusted.

"It's not that Tawny," I told her.

"If it isn't that. Then what is it?" she asked me with a very rare serious expression on her face.

"I don't just want sex, or just a relationship. They need to be balanced for me," I said not really thinking about it.

"I still don't see how you're going to have a relationship if you're scared of the commitment," Mattie said confused.

"I'm not afraid of the commitment," I said getting frustrated.

"Then what are you afraid of Bella?" Tawny asked trying to understand.

"Other than being afraid," I said giving a small smile. It looked like they didn't get it, but it didn't matter. We weren't going to go that far.

"I haven't seen that many successful relationships except for maybe one, and that was my Uncle Matt and Aunt Sara. My parents were divorced when I was three. My Aunt Lannette was divorced when I was twelve. And my Aunt Rhonda was on and off with Chris. If none of them could last then what are the chances of me having a successful relationship?" I asked finally getting this off of my chest.

"You do realize that you aren't your family right?" Mattie asked.

"I know that I'm not them Mattie. It's just that I don't have very many examples to go off of. I have to figure this out all on my own, and that's what scares me. And I hate feeling scared more than anything in the world," I admitted.

"Why do you hate feeling scared?" Tawny asked. Damn it why can't they just drop it. They got what they wanted out of me. That's the way I feel. What more do they want? "Everyone gets scared of something," she said looking at Mattie then back at me again. Oh well, here goes nothing.

"It makes me feel weak. You know, I've had to be strong for everyone else. I've never had the chance to let someone be strong for me," I said looking at Tawny.

"That's because you never let anyone in," Mattie said picking at the grass.

"I don't want to get hurt, and if I let someone in it would make the chances of that happening even greater," I whispered.

I looked up to the dark sky, and saw all of the stars. They looked so right up there. I wondered if they meant something. Like maybe they're a book that we have yet to decipher. I wonder if there was a star for everyone out there that we are destined to find. Then again I may be wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time either. Or maybe, just maybe, I hadn't met my star yet.

"You'll eventually learn to let people in," Tawny said breaking me out of my trance. "You know Mattie, she didn't even talk to Weston after she let him in her pants," she said teasingly.

"Ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically. They were both laughing their asses off while I pulled my cell phone out to check the time. It was 10:30.

"Shit, I have to go put Alex to bed, and make sure Brittney hasn't run away," I said gathering my things.

"Okay, see you later," they said getting more comfortable since I got up.

"Bye bitches!" I yelled while I ran to my car. I got in, started her up, and turned the radio on really loud. One of my favorite songs, _Happy_ by _Mudvayne_, was playing. Since my favorite song was playing I was entitled to sing really loud.

_"Are you feeling happy? Are you fucking happy now that I'm lost left with nothing?"_

After the song was over these last two lines made me really think. I'd always thought that I was happy, but then again I know this wasn't true. I just never liked to admit it to anyone including myself. I'd always told everyone to leave me alone. Which was true. I wanted _people_ to leave me alone, but I wanted a _person_ to make me feel like I belong somewhere. I wanted to be left alone, but I didn't want to feel alone. I just didn't know how to let anyone in to make me feel this way.

**Okay. I have decided that there will be some lemonage in here. And yes. I did just make that word up. It won't be until later on in the story, but I will let you know ahead of time. I hope you guys liked it. Please leave me some reviews. They make my day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter. Just so you guys know, you won't be meeting Edward until the next chapter. So please be patient. Anyway, I hope you guys are liking it so far.**

**I don't own Edward or Twilight (runs to a corner crying).**

**Chapter Two**

My parents got a divorce when I was three, and even though I probably shouldn't remember it I do. I was sitting in the van with Brittney and my Grandma Maria. Brittney was crying because she wanted my mom, and she was about one at the time so she had the right to cry. I was upset because my mom wouldn't let me go into the courthouse with her. I'd only been in a courthouse once, and that was with my Papi Lanny (I just wanted to see if they looked the same). Anyway, I remembered my mom got into the van and said, "It's done. I'm single again!"

"You are?" Mama asked.

"Yeah I am," Mom replied.

"Reneé, are you absolutely sure?" Mama pressed on.

"Yes, Mom I am!" Mom said annoyed.

And that was the end of that. My parents were no longer together, and I understood that. It wasn't long after that my dad married Mindy. I honestly thought that if my dad hadn't married her my relationship with him would have been so much better. He had so many chances to see me actually grow up, but he decided to wait until I was old enough to take care of Brittney and myself without him having to be there. For this reason, and many others as well, I want to hate him. But I just . . . couldn't.

However, my relationship with my mom was completely different. When she was upset I was the one to comfort her, and I still do. When I was upset she would do her best to try to comfort me, but she didn't know how to. I was closer to her more than anyone (except for my Aunt Lannette), but she didn't know what was going through my head, and she still doesn't. Every time I've tried to open up to her, or anyone for that matter, she either would either yell or not listen to me at all. That taught me that no one will listen to you despite the fact that they told you they would. This would be why I have such a hard time opening up to people. Every time that I have tried I just ended up getting hurt. So I just stopped trying to let people in. It was easier on me that way. Besides, what's the point in trying to open up to people when all they're going to do is criticize you. When I'm upset I don't want someone bringing me even further down. If I wanted that then I could do it by myself. I didn't need someone telling me my faults when I already knew them. I just wanted someone to listen. I didn't need their opinion. No one knows how to just shut up. It's just better for me to put on a mask and face the world without anyone knowing how I truly feel. It didn't matter to them anyway.

When Brittney, Austin, Bailee, Madison, Nathan, Elizabeth, Alex, Gabe, and Robby were born (Ryan and Katelynn Sara's daughters. So when she married Matt, Ryan was five and Katelynn was two) I was eager to help raise them. I'm like a second mother to all of them. Throughout this entire ordeal I developed a motherly personality that most people could tell you about. I usually use my motherly instinct on Mattie and Tawny when they have done, or do, something stupid (which is all of the time). I would then yell at them for being dumbasses.

My mom told me that instead acting like an eighteen-year-old, I act like a thirty-year-old, and sometimes even older. I didn't do the parties (except for the one time that I will not mention) I didn't go out almost every night. Instead I stayed at home and watched the kids, or went to work. Sometimes I chose to stay at home when I had nothing to do instead of going out. Even if I did I wouldn't have had fun anyway. I tended to think about what would happen after I did something. So if I did something that was fun but would get me into trouble I wouldn't have fun doing it.

I had more responsibility than an average eighteen-year-old should. I always went to work even when I was sick. I was working two jobs so I'd have enough money for college. I watched the kids in my family almost every day for free. I also did baby-sitting jobs every now and then. When I worked those, I let them choose how much to paid me, and not the other way around. I only worked this hard so I could get out of this miserable fucking town, and my acceptance to Yale was my ticket out of here.

I told everyone that once I graduated law school I wasn't coming back. I'm going to stay in Connecticut, and visit every once in awhile. That's if I had the money to do so. I thought this decision was the hardest for them, but they need edto get used to the idea of me being on my own. They needed to get used to the idea of me not coming back. They needed to get used to the idea of me making my own mistakes, and being an adult in the world without them watching my every move. I was already used to the idea, and I wasn't not even gone yet! One would think they'd already be used to me being independent since I had been my entire life. I wasn't even letting them help me pay for college. I had a couple of scholarships for academic records, plus all of the money I'd managed to save working two jobs the past three years. I didn't want nor need their money.

I thought they worried about me not being able to take care of myself with them not around. They probably thought that I was going to party all of the time, and not focus on school. If they did then they forgot who they're talking about here. I'd taken care of myself and others throughout my entire life. I thought that I'd be able to take care of myself. Besides, this would be like a vacation for me because I wouldn't have anyone else to worry about except for myself. I was looking forward to the peace and quiet.

I didn't like it when people tried to help me when I didn't want them to, and when I did want help I hated asking for it. Again, it made me feel weak for wanting someone else. I was like my mother in this way. Every time someone asked either of us if we wanted help we yelled at them. It's actually quite funny. When I wanted help, and it looked like I was struggling, they just stood there and watched. I guess they thought that I was going to yell at them for asking me if I wanted help when I was struggling. Oh well, I guessed it's my fucking fault for not wanting to be bothered by people in the first place.

I knew it seemed kind of strange that I would want to be a lawyer since they had to work with people. It's not that I couldn't work with people because trust me I could. It's just that I couldn't stand anyone my age because they're too immature for me. Now, people older than me I could get along with just fine because I acted older than my age. I grew up fast because I had others that I needed to take care of. Sometimes I wished I didn't grow up as fast as I did. Maybe then I could get along with anyone my age. Then again I was glad that I did, or I would've been stupid like every other teenager who got drunk every weekend and ended up pregnant. Don't get me wrong I wanted kids. I really did. It's just that I wanted to wait until I graduated law school, was married, and had a job that could support my family. Wow, I was already thinking about kids, and I hadn't even left yet!

I knew that my leaving was making everyone upset. Sure they're excited that was going to college (and to one that I wanted), but it still didn't change the fact that they didn't want me to leave. If this were any other situation then I would stay home in a heartbeat if it made them happy, but not this time. This was my time to be selfish for once. This was my time to do something that I wanted to do. This was my time to do something for me and not anyone else. No one else. For the first time in my life I was doing something without worrying about what everyone else felt. This was my time to do this alone, and that's going to make me happy . . . I thought.

**I hoped you guys liked this chapter. If not, it's okay. This is more of an informational chapter anyway. Please review to let me know you like it. I am also open up to suggestions if any of you have some.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay. So you get to meet Edward in this chapter! Yay! The world is now a better place. I hope you guys liked the last chapter.**

**I still don't own Twilight. If I did... well, Edward would've given in to his sexual urges in the first book. Hehe.**

**Chapter Three**

Why did these things always happen to me? My first day off that I hadn't been called in at the diner, or Subway, and here I was wide awake wanting a . . . icee. It's official. I was weird. It's nine in the morning, and I was wanting an icee. Maybe if I got one I'd be able to go back to sleep afterwards . . . yeah right. I got up, brushed my teeth, threw my hair in a clip, and put on some black flats.

As soon as I started the car I turned the radio on and _Lithium_ by _Evanescence_ was playing. It's a lazy song for a lazy Sunday. Well, it would have been a lazy Sunday if I hadn't woke up at nine in the damn morning. Nothing ever went right for me. It's a fucking miracle that I could afford to go to Yale, and an even bigger miracle that I got accepted. I will honestly never forget when I received my acceptance letter.

I just got home from school, and checked the mail as usual. When I saw the big envelope from Yale I dropped everything in the middle of the living room floor and screamed. I mean really screamed. Of course, my mom thought someone was dying and came in screaming as well. When she saw me jumping up and down she said, well more like yelled, "What is it?"

"I got a letter from Yale!" I screamed. She went from panicked to excited in a second.

"Well did you get in?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said calming down. I moved over to sit on the couch, and stared at the envelope.

"Well, then why were you screaming?" she asked confused.

"I'm just happy they sent a letter at all," I replied.

"Why are you just staring at it then?" she asked. "Open it! Open it! Open it!" she yelled jumping up and down in her seat. I tore open the envelope and started to read.

_Dear Ms. Swan,_

_ Congratulations! We are ecstatic to notify you that you have been accepted into Yale University._

When I read those lines I started to cry. It was the first time that I'd cried in years. This, of course, made my mom think that I didn't get in despite the huge information packet that I had in my lap.

"I'm sorry Bella," my mom said with tears in her eyes. I looked at her like she just grew three heads.

"Why in the hell are you sorry?" I choked through my sobs.

"Well, that's why you're crying isn't it?" she asked looking at me with confusion written all over her face.

"No! These are happy tears! I got in! I got in! I actually got in!" I cried and screamed again. After that I called everyone I knew, and told them the news.

I pulled up to the 7-11, turned the car off, and got out. When I went in I got this strange feeling. You know when you get the feeling like something has happened before, but you can't place it. That would be the feeling I had. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't shake it off.

As I rounded the corner I saw the most beautiful creature that I had ever laid my eyes on. I know you don't call men beautiful, but there were no other words to describe him. He was at least six-two and muscular. He was wearing a wife beater that you could see through, khaki shorts, and old tennis shoes. His hair was dark brown with reddish-brown highlights. It was like the color of old rusty bricks, but it went really well with his tan skin. This man put every Greek god to shame. That was how beautiful he was.

But of course being me, I just had to make an ass out of myself. So I tripped over my two left feet, and was about to make a face plant on the floor. That is until I felt two muscular arms wrap around me. It took me a couple of seconds to process why I hadn't hit the floor so I just leaned on whoever caught me. When I finally looked up I was met with the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen. They were so green that they reminded me of emeralds. These eyes held so much emotion in them that I felt like I was drowning. They were so far out of this world. I felt like I could see this person's soul. They held so much concern, mysteriousness, thoughtfulness, and was that . . . loving? After what felt like an eternity this person asked, "Are you alright?"

He had the smoothest voice I'd ever heard. I didn't even hear his question just his voice. When I didn't answer right away he looked at me expectantly. Only then did I realize that I was acting like a fucking idiot.

"Y-yeah, um I-I'm fine," I stuttered. This is just great. Now he probably thought that I was a damn idiot. When I noticed who he was I died. This was just my fucking luck. Not only had I made an ass out of myself, but I did it in front of the beautiful man. What in the hell did I do to make God hate me this much?

"Are you sure?" he asked setting me on my feet, but didn't let go just yet.

"Yeah I'm okay," I said while my faced turned at least six shades of red. He just chuckled like I was the most amusing thing he'd seen all day. This made me even more embarrassed.

"What's your name?" he asked still chuckling.

"Bella Swan," I replied automatically.

"Well, Bella Swan, I'm Edward Cullen, and you have just made my day," he said with a light expression.

"And how, Edward Cullen, on earth did I manage to do that?" I asked him suspiciously because I thought he was going to say how much of an idiot I was.

"By falling into my arms," he said seriously. Only then did I realize that I was still in his arms. The strange thing was it didn't bother me like it usually would have. This felt so . . . right.

"That was so corny," I said slightly amused. He looked surprised. Like he hadn't meant to say what he said out loud, but he recovered quickly.

"Well, corny is my middle name you know," he said smirking. Oh my God, if I thought he was beautiful before then I didn't know what to call him now.

"Really, is it now?" I asked giggling.

"No, actually it's Anthony," he said laughing as well. "What's yours?" he asked.

"Marie," I said still giggling.

"So, what are you doing here in your pajamas?" he asked grabbing an icee cup.

"I came here for an icee like you," I replied also grabbing an icee cup.

"And you do that in your pajamas?" he asked getting a Dr. Pepper icee.

"Not all of the time," I said as seriously as I could. He just looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Really, do you now?" he asked.

"No, I just didn't feel like getting dressed since I'm only here for an icee. I won't be in public for more than ten minutes anyway. So what's the point in getting all dolled up?" I ranted a little bit getting a Dr. Pepper icee as well.

"My sister would. She gets dressed up just to check the mail. Which is a thirty second walk," he said.

"I only dress up when I have to," I said grabbing an icee lid.

"That's what I do when she's not around, but if she is she insists on picking out my clothes. She also does the shopping for my wardrobe, with my money of course, because she says that I have horrible tastes in fashion," he said grabbing a straw.

"You actually let her get away with that?" I asked laughing at him.

"Hey, she can be very scary when she wants to," he said shuddering a little. I guess from a bad memory or something.

"Not my sister. I'm actually the threatening one in my family," I said grabbing a straw.

"No you're not," he said grabbing an icee lid.

"Yes I am," I said walking away.

"You don't seem like a very threatening person," he said walking right behind me.

"Looks can be very deceiving you know," I said paying Angela. I turned around to only to see him two inches away from my face. What's wrong with me? I never let anyone get this close to me (when I'm sober), but I couldn't stop myself from moving towards him. I felt like he was pulling me into him. The strange thing was that I wanted to kiss him. All logic about knowing him for no more than five minutes went out the window when his fingers laced themselves through mine. As soon as our noses touched I felt this electricity coursing through my body. I think he felt it too because he gasped at about the same time I did. Our lips barely touched when I heard, "So Bella, when were you going to introduce me to your friend?"

I am so going to kill Angela for that later. Did she not see that I was about to kiss this amazing man that I've only known for five minutes? When is the logic in this going to kick in? I live off of the logic in this world, and right now it's nowhere in sight. I bet when it does kick in, it's going to bite me hard in the ass.

"Angela this is Edward. Edward this is Angela," I said giving her the dirtiest look she had ever seen.

"Nice to meet you," Edward said politely. "Oh, and here's a dollar for the icee," he said laughing. It looked like Edward's charm worked wonders on her because she was giggling like a little school girl. I had no right to talk though because I was doing the same thing. The only difference was that I was doing it in my head.

"Here's your change," she said still giggling.

"Thank you," he said looking at me. I gave him a shy smile in return.

"Okay, we're leaving now. So I'll see you later Angela," I said giving her another dirty look just for good measure. As he held the door open for me I noticed we were still holding hands. Not that I was complaining. He led me to a bench next to the door and sat down.

"Do you live around here?" he asked.

"I live across town," I said taking a drink. "What about you?"

"I live about ten minutes outside of town," he said taking a drink and rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand.

"East or west?" I asked setting my icee next to me.

"East," he said taking another drink.

"Did you just move here or something?" I asked picking up my icee. "I've never seen you around here before," I said taking a huge drink.

"Well kind of," he said setting his drink down and running a hand through his hair.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked giving him a weird look.

"My parents own a summer home that we come to every year here," he said picking at my fingers. I looked up to see Lannette pulling in to get gas.

"If you come here every summer then why haven't we met?" I asked looking back at him.

"We go to the city instead of coming here. I wish we would've come here now though," he said shyly.

"Why?" I asked him.

"So I could've met you sooner," he said as Lannette was walking up to us. I was pretty sure my heart keeled over and died. When did I become such a sap? God, I was such a girl. Oh. Wait. I was a girl.

"I apologize in advance if Lannette makes you feel uncomfortable," I said apologetically.

"That kind of aunt huh?" he asked looking at Lannette then back at me.

"Actually, my whole family is like this," I said taking the very last drink of my icee.

"Hey Lannette," I said as she stopped right in front of us.

"I thought that you didn't have to work today?" she asked.

"I don't. Unless Lee calls me in," I said.

"Then why are you up at nine in the morning?" she asked confused.

"I couldn't go back to sleep. So I decided to get an icee," I said shaking the empty cup at her. She looked at the cup then at Edward.

"And who is this handsome man Bells?" she asked eyeballing him like a piece of meat. That kind of pissed me off. Wait. Did I really just get jealous of my aunt? No. I didn't. Because that would be crazy. I may be a little weird, but I did _not_ get jealous. _You just did Bella. So just admit it._ Damn annoying little voice in the back of my head.

"This is Edward, Lannette," I growled at her. Edward just looked at me and chuckled.

"Edward huh? I think that I'm going to call you Handsome Man instead," she said smiling at him while Edward's face turned pink.

"Lannette leave him alone," I said sighing. My phone rang just as she was about to say something else to him. "Saved by the bell," I mumbled to him. He just smiled that breath-taking smile. I swear every time he does that my heart skips a beat. Damn it. I was being corny again.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Bella it's Lee," the voice said.

"Hey Lee, what's up?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Bells, I'm really sorry that I had to do this, but I need your help," he said apologizing. I knew it. "I'm the only one working right now. Mattie went to Hugo to visit her grandma, Tawny went to Washington with her mom, Jake and Jansen went to Colorado for a baseball tournament, Sarah and Trevor won't be back until tomorrow, and Greg is in Illinois for two weeks. I completely forgot, and scheduled you off for today, but I really need your help. I have people waiting in line to be seated all the way to the back of the parking lot. I'm cooking and waiting tables all at the same time, and-"

"Lee! Lee! Lee!" I shouted causing Edward and Lannette to jump.

"Can you please help me Bells?" he tiredly asked.

"Yeah, I'll have to go home and change first," I replied sighing.

"I don't think that I can wait that long. Just come in whatever you're wearing," he said then told a customer to wait just two seconds.

"You want me to come to work in just my pajama dress?" I asked him skeptically.

"Yes, I don't care what you wear to work anyway. Please just hurry!" he said pleadingly.

"Okay, I'll be there in about ten minutes," I said sighing.

"Thank you so much. This would be why I love you. I don't know what I would've done without you Bells," he said.

"You're welcome, don't forget that, and the diner would have gone up into flames," I said and hung up. I looked at Lannette, who was still staring at Edward, who was staring at me.

"Well it looks like I'll be going to work after all. And in my blue pajama dress too," I said breaking her out of her trance.

"Okay, well Nate and I will be by for lunch then," she said looking everywhere but at me.

"Is everyone going to be there as well?" I asked suspiciously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said too innocently and walked away so I couldn't question her further. I loved my family, but they annoyed the shit out of me sometimes.

"Are you doing anything for lunch?" I asked Edward while he threw our cups away.

"No, why?" he asked extending his hand out for me to take so he could help me stand up. I expected him to let go as soon as I was on my feet, but he just laced his fingers through mine. I was starting to like that.

"You should come to the diner then," I said as he walked me to my car.

"Where is it?" he asked leaning on my car door.

"On Main Street by the McDonalds," I replied.

"Lee's Diner?" he asked.

"That would be the one," I said.

"Okay, I'll go. My family will probably want to come though," he said playing with my fingers.

"That's fine. I'll just try to save you guys a table or something," I said picking a piece of stray thread off of his shirt.

"Thanks," he said. He looked like he wanted to say something, but held back. So I decided to help him out a bit. Wait. Maybe he finally realized he didn't want to be around me anymore. Oh, what the hell.

"What?" I asked him.

"What did you mean when you asked Lannette if everyone was coming?" he asked not meeting my eyes. It looked like he was worried that he'd asked something too personal. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Family questions I could handle. Questions about me not so much.

"Every time I have to work at the diner everyone in my family comes in to leave outrageous tips," I explained.

"Why do they do that?" he asked running a hand through his hair.

"I won't let them help me pay for college. So they come in to leave huge tips. That way I have no choice but to take them," I said brushing my thumb over the back of his hand.

"Why don't you let them help you?" he asked looking back at me.

"I want to do this on my own. Besides, I have a little more than what I need for Yale," I said digging through my purse for my keys.

"Wait, you go to Yale?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah, it'll be my first year," I said when I found my keys. "Why?" I asked unlocking my door.

"I go to Yale too!" he exclaimed.

"Really?" I asked him hopefully. _No Bella. He just said it for shits and giggles_ I really needed to quit having conversations with myself.

"Yeah, it'll be my second year," he said opening my door for me. "How old are you?" he asked as I was getting in. As soon as I sat down I looked at my lap. Once he realizes how old I am he won't want anything to do with me. And since when did I care about my age? What is this guy doing to me? When he shut my door his hand was back in mine as though it had never left in the first place.

"Eighteen," I said still not meeting his eyes. Okay, he's going to rip his hand from mine and leave me any second now.

"When's your birthday?" he asked as though my age didn't bother him. Okay, definitely not what I thought he was going to say or do.

"Um . . . September thirteenth?" I said but it came out more like a question. _Way to make yourself look like an idiot Bella._

"Okay," he said.

"How old are you?" I asked still wondering when he was going to leave me.

"Twenty," he said nonchalantly. Okay, so he's only two years older than me. I guess that's why he hasn't left yet.

"When's your birthday?" I asked.

"June sixteenth," he said taking my clip, and running his fingers through my silk-like hair. What happened to my "no touching" boundaries? Oh, that's right. They went out the window the first time he touched me. I looked at the clock, and realized that I had to leave.

"I have to go," I said trying to convince myself more than him.

"My family and I will be there around eleven," he said not even moving.

"Okay, now I really have to go before Lee has a cow," I said looking at him with sad eyes.

"I'll see you in a couple of hours," he said kissing my forehead. I just smiled a small smile and bit my lip. Really? I got excited just by him kissing my forehead? What was I? Some hormone-crazed teenager? Oh, wait. I was a teenager. No matter how much I tried to deny that.

"I'll see you then," I told him putting the car in reverse. As I drove off he gave me a small wave then walked to his car.

All the way to the diner I kept thinking about that kiss. It was one of two things that convinced me that I hadn't made the whole encounter up. The other thing was this giant, empty hole that I felt in my chest. I was almost positive that it would stay there until I saw him again. Which was really strange because no guy had ever effected me like this. I shouldn't be reacting like this. He's just a guy. He's probably like every other stupid guy in this town. Selfish and wanting to fuck anything that had boobs. Then why did I have this nagging feeling that I was wrong? Ugh. This was going to be the longest two hours of my life.

**Hope you guys liked this chapter. I'll try to get next chapter up as soon as I can. Please, please, please, review! They are almost as good as cheesecake.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Whoo! Finally got this one out.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight._**

Chapter 4

I am going to kill Jake Jansen, Mattie, Sarah, Tawny, Trevor, and Greg. This was ridiculous. We'd been in a rush all morning with only one waitress, me, and one cook, Lee, to deal with it. At least there hadn't been any accidents in the last two hours. I just hoped that it stayed that way. Besides, it would be nice to not get anything spilled on me since I'm only wearing my pajama dress. I wasn't wearing any pants so my legs would get all sticky if I, or anyone else, were to spill something on me. I didn't think I could handle that right now.

My family hadn't been here yet either so that's good. It's not like I didn't want them here. It's just that I didn't like the tips they left. The most that I'd ever gotten was thirty bucks from Matt and Sara. I would split my tips with whoever was working with me that day, or night, but Lee wouldn't let me. He said that I worked hard for the money, and I shouldn't just give it away to other people. I guess I should thank him since he's looked out for me the past three years. It still didn't change the fact that it pissed me off.

If I said that I hadn't been looking at the clock willing time to go faster then I'd be lying. I think I was scared that he wouldn't show up, or just realize that I wasn't good enough for him. It wouldn't surprise me if he did. It wouldn't be the first time someone bailed on me. Lee noticed something was wrong with me, but didn't say anything for which I'm grateful. I wouldn't know how to explain it to him, and he probably wouldn't have understood anyway. Hell, I didn't even understand it.

I checked the clock for what had to be the millionth time, and saw that it was ten after eleven. Good, he should be here any minute now. I saved him a table as to which I received many complaints from customers, but I ignored them. I didn't have the patience to explain anything to anyone right now. I thought I was on the verge of losing my mind.

When I heard the bell above the door ring I automatically assumed it was Mr. and Mrs. Keith coming in for lunch. They come in at the same time every day. So why wouldn't it be them? They leave big tips too, but the only reason I accepted them without complaining is because Mrs. Keith would lecture me if I did. The first couple of times I did she went on and on about how I worked too hard and deserved a break. It would've lasted about twenty minutes if I had let her continue talking. I learned the only way to shut her up is to take the money without saying anything.

As I made my way to the front I a huge smile graced my face. He really did come like he said he would. _You really are pathetic Bella._ It looked like he was searching for someone. It's probably his girlfriend or friend that's a girl or something. With his looks I'd be surprised if he was single. Why would he be here for me? I was just Bella Swan. The girl you see for advice. I wasn't anything special.

The moment his eyes landed on me he smiled. I guess I was wrong after all. As soon as I looked into his eyes the entire world froze. I forgot about everything that wasn't him. It's amazing how he could make me feel this way with just eye contact. I wonder if I did the same thing to him. He didn't even know the effect he had on me. So why would he feel the same way? _Hello Bella, men like that don't like girls like you. Hell, no man likes you so why would this be any different?_

When I walked up to him and his family I was shocked by how beautiful they all were, but I didn't let it show. I didn't want them thinking that I had a staring problem or something. I grabbed seven menus, and led them to the table I had saved for them. As they sat down I noticed the looks they, except Edward, were giving me. They were probably wondering about my dress. They were the same looks I'd been getting all day, but it made me self-conscious since this was his family. I felt this huge need to explain to them why I was wearing this because I didn't want them thinking I dressed like this all of the time. If they thought that then they probably would tell Edward to stay away from me because I was weird, and that would just suck major ass.

"I was called and told to come in whatever I was wearing. So I did," I said as a look of understanding crossed their faces. The big, burly guy with dark brown hair and green eyes just barked a laugh. I laughed because his booming laugh was hilarious. I noticed Edward gave him a death glare very similar to the one I gave my family.

"What would you like to drink?" I asked still giggling.

"Dr. Pepper," Edward said. He was still giving the buff guy, who was down to chuckling now, the evil eye. I just started giggling again because of how Edward looked. He turned to me with an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sor-," he started to say, but I cut him off.

"Don't worry about it," I said brushing a piece of his hair that was in his eyes away. I thought my hands had a mind of their own because I didn't intend on doing that. Stupid hands. I looked to the guy who had wavy, dirty blonde hair that came right above his ears, and crystal blue eyes. From what I could tell he was tall and muscular, but not as fit as Edward.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Coke," he said looking at me then to the girl sitting next to him. She had dark brown hair with light brown and dark red highlights that came just below her chin and green eyes. I was about to ask her what she wanted to drink, but she beat me to the punch.

"Sweet tea," she said looking at my dress. "That's cute. Where did you get it?" she asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "It was a Christmas present from my mom," I said.

"Ask her where she got it because I want one," she demanded in a friendly voice.

"Okay," I told her. The friendly smile gave me made her eyes light up. She turned to Edward and smiled this huge smile.

"I like her already," she said. I raised my eyebrow at him and he turned pink.

"Look Ali, she made him blush!" the buff guy said. "E-man never blushes. I definitely like her now. First, she comes to work in her pajamas. Then, she makes him blush. You are officially my hero," he said laughing and banging his hand on table.

"Well, I'm glad I could help," I said giggling. I looked at Edward and saw he was as red as a tomato. I knew that feeling.

"Okay Emmett, that's enough," the woman with caramel hair and brown eyes said giggling. I turned to the man with blonde hair and green eyes. He was still chuckling, but tried to hide it.

"What can I get you?" I asked him.

"Coke," he said. I turned to the brown-eyed woman.

"And you?" I asked her.

"Sweet tea, honey," she said in a motherly way. I had a feeling the two of us would get along just fine. I turned to the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had long wavy dirty-blonde hair and the same blue eyes as the guy sitting next to the girl I now knew as Ali. Either that was her real name or just a nickname. I'm betting on the latter though.

"Sweet tea," she said sweetly. Emmett, the buff guy, was still chuckling under his breath.

"And what would my faithful fan like to drink?" I asked teasingly. The whole table, except Edward who was pouting, started laughing again.

"Dr. Pepper," he managed to wheeze out.

"Okay, I'll be back with your drinks in a minute," I said still giggling.

As I was getting their drinks I could hear them teasing Edward. If I ever teased Brittney like that she would start crying and tell Mom. Then Mom would yell at me while Brittney had a smug look on her face. I wished she wasn't such a cry-baby. Maybe then we would've actually gotten along.

I put the drinks on a tray and walked back to their table. I was almost there when a little kid ran right in front of me and almost made me spill everything. I managed to stop myself from falling, and put the tray on the table without spilling a drop. Man, I was so fucking amazing I scared myself sometimes.

"That was awesome," the dirty blonde-haired girl said.

"Thanks," I told her. "Okay, I have two Dr. Peppers," I said giggling and handed them to Edward and Emmett, "two cokes," I handed them to the two other guys, "and three sweet teas." I smiled and handed them to the girls. I pulled a pen from my hair and a notepad from my apron. "Are you guys ready to order?" I asked when I saw my family walk in.

"Before we do, I have to introduce everyone or I'll get yelled at again," he said looking at everyone.

"Okay, fine with me," I said waving my family to go ahead and sit down at their usual table.

"Bella, this is Jasper, my best friend and Alice's boyfriend, Alice, my twin sister, Carlisle, my dad, Esme, my mom, Rosalie, Jasper's twin sister and Emmett's girlfriend, and my older brother, Emmett," he said pointing to them. "Guys, this is Bella," he said pointing to me.

"Hi," I said giving a small wave. Just then Elizabeth and Alex came running up to me and tackled my legs.

"Bella!" they shouted at the same time. I put the pen back in my hair and the notepad in my apron. I picked the both of them up and spun around.

"Hey kiddos!" I said laughing. "What are you doing here?" I asked as I saw Madison and Nathan walking toward us.

"We came to eat like we do every time you work," Madison said when she came close enough to where I could hear her over everyone.

"No surprise there," I said putting them down. "You guys go sit down, and I'll be there in a minute," I said as they ran off. I giggled as they tried not to get run over.

"Okay, what would you guys like to eat?" I asked as they stared at me in awe. Had they never seen someone react to kids that way or something?

"I would like a cheeseburger with everything and fries," Edward said as everyone registered what I had asked. I wrote it down and turned to Jayson. "Okay Jasper, what can I get you?" I asked.

"Um a chicken sandwich and fries," he said closing his menu.

"Alice?" I asked writing Jasper's order down.

"I would like a chicken salad please," she said in her bell-like voice.

"Do you want the chicken crispy or grilled?" I asked her.

"Grilled," she said closing her menu and handing both her's and Jasper's to Edward.

"Alright Carlisle, what would you like?" I asked when I finished writing down Abby's order.

"A sirloin steak and fries," he said.

"Would you like your steak rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, or well-done?" I asked him.

"Well-done," he said while I wrote it down.

"Esme?" I asked her while Carlisle handed his menu to Edward.

"A caesar salad dear," she said in her mother-like tone and handed her menu to Eric.

"Okay, Rosalie?" I asked writing down Esme's order.

"I want a crispy chicken salad," she said as she handed her menu to Edward.

"Emmett?" I asked when I finished writing Rosalie's order.

"A double cheeseburger with everything and cheese fries," he said taking a drink and handed his menu to Edward. When I wrote it down I grabbed the menus, and put the pen in my hair.

"I'll have your food out as soon as possible," I said tearing the paper with their orders out of the notepad. "If you need anything else I'll get it to you as fast as I can," I said as I picked up the tray and walked to the kitchen. I hung their order on the line above the grill and put up the tray. I walked to my family's table, and prepared myself for the talks I would get because I was sure Lannette told them about Edward.

"So Bella, who is this boy I keep hearing so much about from Lannette?" my mom asked.

"Someone I met this morning that you don't need to worry about," I said writing down their usuals.

"I think that whoever is involved with my daughter entitles me to worry about it," she said.

"Mom stop," I said raising an eyebrow to let her know I was getting pissed.

"Alright fine," she said defeated.

"Do I have to talk to him?" Matt asked.

"Leave him alone Bubba," I sighed.

"You guys leave her alone," Mama said. I could always count on her to make everyone leave me the hell alone. When I was done writing down what they wanted I gave their order to Lee and went to get their usual drinks. I was getting Brittney's drink when Edward came up to me.

"Is your family teasing you too?" he asked handing me his empty cup.

"No. More like seeing who can piss me off first. But when I give them a look that tells them to stop they do or I'll get pissed and won't talk to them for awhile. For some reason they can't stand it when I don't talk to them," I said getting him some more Dr. Pepper.

"Not my family. They'll keep teasing me until my mom or dad tells them to stop," he said as I handed him his drink.

"I thought Emmett was hilarious," I said giggling.

"Yeah, he really likes you. As do the rest of them," he said brushing a piece of hair away that was in my face.

"Really?" I asked. Again. Why the hell did I care if they didn't like me? It had never bothered me before so why should it now?

"Yes, really," he said giving me a small smile. "I'll tell you what they think of you when you get off of work," he said.

"That won't be until tonight," I said sighing.

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm pulling a double," I replied.

"What time do you get off?" he asked.

"Nine," I said filling up Sara's drink. It looked like he was thinking something over when he turned to face me again.

"Are you working tomorrow night?" he asked.

"No, I work the morning shift since Sarah and Trevor will be back to cover the evening shift," I said putting a lid on Alex's drink. "Why?" I asked.

"Will you come to dinner with me tomorrow night then?" he asked with a hopeful expression. Did I just hear him right? Did he just ask me to go on a date with him? Judging by the look on his face he did. Did he really think that I would say no to a God like him? I would be crazy if I turned him down.

"Okay," I said smiling and putting all of the drinks on two trays. "What time?" I asked.

"How about seven?" he asked.

"Seven is perfect," I giggled at his worried face. Just then Alice and Rosalie jumped from around the corner and asked, "Can we take you shopping?"

They looked so excited that I couldn't say no to them even if I wanted to. Besides, this would be a really great opportunity to get to know them.

"Yes, you can take me shopping," I answered them giggling at their excited faces.

"Thank you so much!" they screamed at the same time. "We're going to have so much fun!" they shouted jumping up and down. They went back to their table talking about what stores we were going to go to and what-not. I wondered how long they stood there because it looked like they heard our entire conversation. Again, this would normally bother me, but it didn't. Something is really wrong with me. This family is turning me into mush and I don't think that's a good thing. There's only one thing on this planet that can do that to me and that thing is kids.

I turned back to Edward and saw the horrid look on his face. I just started cracking up which caused his family to look our way. When they saw his face they started laughing as well. After a couple of minutes I started to calm down and so did the color on his face.

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into," Eric said warningly.

"I think I have an idea," I giggled as I walked to my family with their drinks.

**Posting more chapters after this one. Yay! Please review! I love getting them.**

** ~Fell Bell~**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so sorry that this took me forever. I feel like such a horrible bitch. To make up for my patheticness, I am going to post several chapters right now.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned _Twilight_ do you really think I would be writing fan fiction. No. _Twilight_ does not belong to me. Sadly.**

Chapter 5

Shopping with Alice and Rosalie was very interesting. Apparently, only spending two hundred dollars is not enough to get clothes in their minds, and, according to Edward and his family, I'm the only one to get them to do that. It really didn't take a whole lot of will power to say no to them. I really didn't see how the others thought they were scary. Actually, Alice and Rosalie thought that I was scarier than them, and I wholeheartedly agree with them.

When I got off of work at two I called Edward to get directions to his house (he gave me his number before he left the diner yesterday). I had to go past the corn fields, take a right at the four lane intersection, drive about half of a mile, turn left on a dirt road, drive for a couple of minutes until I saw what was supposed to be the end of their driveway, take a right on that, and drive right up to their house. So totally not confusing and in no possible way could anyone get lost at all. . . . Yeah and I was a millionaire and had a naked man at my every beck-and-call. Anyway, when I got there (twenty minutes later) I was in awe of their house. It was three stories from what I could tell, had a wrap-around porch, and was a light blue that could be confused with white. In other words, it was gorgeous.

As soon as I pulled up Edward was there to open my door for me. It was like he was waiting outside for me to get there. Not that I was complaining. I actually thought it was rather cute and reassuring that he did. When I got out of car he reached for my hand, and all but dragged me into the house. Before I was even inside for about five seconds I was literally tackled to the ground by Alice and Rosalie. To say they were excited would be an understatement. They were already out of the door when I stood up.

"Wait!" I shouted. "Stop right where you are and don't you dare take another step," I threatened.

"What, don't you want to go shopping with us?" Alice asked with tears in her eyes. I just started to laugh. Did they actually think that I didn't want to go with them? I was excited just not as enthusiastic as they were about it.

"Yes, I want to go shopping, but with what just happened I have a feeling we need some ground rules," I said as they came back inside.

"Okay, what did you have in mind?" Rosalie asked.

"First of all, I don't have that much money so don't go all crazy on me and take me to expensive stores," I said not really looking at them because of what they might think about the money issue.

"Don't worry about that Bella. We were going to buy your clothes anyway," Alice said nonchalantly.

"What?" I asked wondering if I heard her right.

"Yeah, Edward told us that you were saving all of the money you had for Yale, which is awesome by the way, so Ali and I decided we would buy all of your summer and school clothes," Rosalie said as though she saw no problem in this whatsoever.

"Edward did what?" I asked looking at him with what had to be the scariest face he'd ever seen judging by the way he started to back away from me.

"Well, I didn't want you to feel like you had to limit your spending money just for college," he said trying to reason with me. "Besides, the girls wanted to help you out," he said trying to defend himself.

"Did you honestly think that I would be okay with this?" I asked him.

"No I didn't. Which is why I'm going to make you do it," he said standing up straight and walking towards me.

"And how on earth do you think you're going to do that?" I asked poking him in the chest (which felt amazing by the way).

"By asking you in a way you can't resist," he said softly.

"Oh, I highly doubt that," I said turning away from him and crossing my arms over my chest. I was beyond pissed. Who the hell did he think he was? He could have at least talked to me about this. He turned me around so that I faced him, and looked at me with those emeralds he called eyes. Boy was that a mistake. He knew it too. It was like he knew that his eyes were my greatest weakness. Shit. _Whatever you do don't look into his eyes Bella. _

"Please Bella. Do this for yourself," he pleaded.

"I don't need fancy clothes or nice things. Sure having them would be great, but I don't need them," I said not looking at him for fear he would see the vulnerability in my eyes. Damn it. I hated feeling vulnerable.

"If not for yourself then do it for me," He said lifting my chin so I could see him. "When was the last time you let someone do something for you?" he asked with those damn eyes of his.

"I have no idea," I whispered so quietly that I didn't think I said it at all.

"Then let me do this for you," he whispered back moving my hair out of my face. Every ounce of my being told me to say no, but with the way he looked at me made that word stuck in my throat. I couldn't say no to that hopeful face of his. Besides, something told me that he had never done this for anyone before. Damn it all straight to hell. I knew I shouldn't have looked into his eyes. God, was I growing soft or what?

"Fine," I said defeated. Damn it. This man is very good at persuasion, but then again so am I. This just means that I had to get even with him then. He lost his pout, and gave me that damn smirk of his.

"Thank you," he said kissing my forehead and hugging me tightly, as though he never wanted to let me go. I never wanted him to let go either.

"We're still going to have rules you know," I mumbled into his chest. He just started to laugh. It was one of those laughs that had no restriction to it. It was a wholehearted, contagious laugh. I don't think his family had ever heard him laugh like that because they all had shock written across their faces. It was only when Esme broke out into a fit of giggles that was everyone brought back to reality.

"Okay, what are these rules of yours?" Edward asked calming down.

"They're just for right now. If Alice and Rosalie behave themselves and follow them I'll change them the next time we go shopping," I said turning around to face the girls. Alice was close to tears and Rosalie was in shock.

"What's wrong?" I asked worried that I had upset them.

"You want to go shopping with us again?" Rosalie asked.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I?" I asked confused.

"Well, every time we take someone shopping with us they never want to go again," Alice said.

"Even if I have a horrible time, which I won't, I'll still go shopping with you two to make you happy," I said softly. _Really? All of this over shopping. Stop it. This was his family. Your sister had cried over an A that you got in science, and said that she was stupid and would never get an A. She wasn't even in school!_ I really needed to learn to stop talking to myself.

"You would?" Rachael asked.

"Yes," I said giggling.

"Thank you so much!" Alice shouted and started to jump up and down.

"Hold the phone. Don't thank me just yet," I said.

"Why?" Alice asked when she stopped jumping.

"We still have some rules to go over," I said smiling.

"Okay, lay them on us," Rose said.

"One: you're only allowed to spend two hundred dollars on me. Two: you have to show me the price tags." I winced on that one. I hated looking at the price of things. "And three: I'm only trying on five things per store," I said looking at them square in the eyes. It looked like I had just told them earth was going to blow up in thirty minutes.

"What?" they shouted.

"Hey, it's either that, or we can go to Wal-Mart to buy my clothes," I threatened. I would feel better if we did. The looks on their faces turned even more disgusted and horrified. I guessed they didn't do Wal-Mart.

"Okay, we'll do it!" they simultaneously shouted.

"That's what I thought," I said. I turned back to Edward and saw the look of pure shock on his face.

"What?" I asked worried that I'd offended him by threatening his sister.

"You actually got them to agree to your rules," he said not quite believing what just happened.

"Yeah, I know I did," I said smugly. "It wasn't that hard you know." I smirked and hugging him tightly. Emmett just fell to the ground laughing.

"Oh man Edward, this girl's a keeper," he choked out. I started to laugh at the look on Edward's face. "I mean through the many girls that you've dated this one is the first one that I actually like," he said standing up. Edward looked like he wanted to kill him. I stepped in front of him, but faced Emmett that way Edward couldn't see my face and couldn't attack Emmett.

"Is that so?" I asked in a serious voice, but with a playful face so Emmett would know that I was teasing him.

"Oh yeah, out of the hundreds of girls he's dated you're the only one I like," he said crossing his arms over his massive chest

"Damn it Emmett! Shut the hell up!" Eric yelled.

"Not to mention the many girls he's slept with," Emmett rambled on scratching his chin.

"Okay Emmett, that's enough," I said. I turned around to see Edward's face fuming red. I cupped his face in my hands so he could look at me and no one else. This seemed to calm him down a bit. I had that effect on some people.

"Hey, we were just teasing you so calm down," I said softly and kissed his nose. "I don't care about how many girls you've been with," I said giggling a little.

"I know this sounds childish, but I care about how many guys you've been with," he said.

"Well then you have nothing to worry about because that number is non-existent," I said guardedly and didn't look at him.

"Why is that?" he asked forcing me to look at him. Great, now I'll have to tell him. This was why I never open my damn mouth. People wanted answers that I didn't want to give.

"I'll tell you later," I said sighing. I turned to face the girls and saw they were about to pop. "Okay, let's go," I said smiling.

When I said that they literally dragged me to Rose's red Camaro. The split second that we were in the garage I saw seven cars. There was Edward's silver Challenger, Rose's car, a white F-150 truck, a black Road Runner, a green Lamborghini, an orange FireBird, and a purple PT Cruiser. They made me feel very self-conscious of my white GrandAm. Well, at least my dream car (midnight blue Charger doesn't matter what year) fits in with this crowd. I was in love with these type of cars.

When we got to the mall we headed straight for the most expensive store they had . . . Turners. They were just trying to kill me. At least Kenzie and Michael were working so I talked to them while the girls picked out my clothes.

"So, who are the girls you came in with?" Michael asked as Kenzie walked up to us.

"Some friends I made yesterday," I said leaning on the register counter.

"Yesterday?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said smiling as I watched the girls argue over which dress would go with which pair of leggings.

"You never make friends that fast," Kenzie said.

"Well, let's just say that I made an exception," I said walking away from them and to the girls. "The blue one," I said when I was in front of them. "The color looks better on me," I told them. They both just looked at me for a minute then smiled.

"See, I told you," Rose said smugly. Alice stuck her tongue out and flipped her off.

"Did you just stick your tongue out at her?" I asked. I thought only my family did that to each other.

"Yeah, and?" she asked.

"I didn't think that anyone else besides my family did stuff like that," I said.

"No, we do stupid shit to each other all of the time," Rose said handing me the silky blue dress and silver leggings. "Here, go try these on," she said.

"Okay, I'll be back in a minute," I said walking to the dressing rooms. I had to hand it to those two. The outfit looked okay on me. The shade of blue they picked out made my tan skin glow and my eyes bright. The straps went around my neck so it showed a modest amount of cleavage. The leggings went really well with the dress too. All I needed now was a pair of shoes, and with the price of this outfit we'll only be getting a cheap pair.

I walked out of the dressing rooms to where the girls were waiting for me. As soon as they saw me they gasped. Oh, I knew it. I was wrong again. The dress looked horrible on me.

"I knew it. It looks horrible on me. I'm not pretty enough for it anyway. So we should just leave, and forget about the whole thing," I said turning around to go back into the dressing room. I have a low self-esteem as it is. I don't need them making it go any lower. I may seem confident, but that was just a mask.

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked.

"You look beautiful," Rose said.

"No, I don't," I said looking mirror.

"Yes, you do. So we're getting the dress, and you're going to like it," Alice said. They were both looking at me with serious expressions on their faces. Did they honestly believe that I looked beautiful? I mean, I know I wasn't ugly . . . but beautiful? I didn't think so. I'd get it just to make them happy though. Why? Because that's what I did. I made people happy even if it made me miserable.

"Fine," I sighed defeated. "But this means that you only have seventy-five bucks to spend on shoes," I said smugly and walked back into the dressing room.

"I know," they whined.

After I changed back into my work clothes, we paid for the dress and went to Wesley's shoe store. The prices of most of those shoes were ridiculous! For a pair of shitty green-colored high heels were one hundred and fifty bucks! The pair we bought were the cheapest ones in the whole store at fifty dollars. They were silver, had a one-inch heel (thank God), peep-toed, and buckled around the ankle. They were really cute, and since they were the cheapest pair in the whole store I liked them even more. After we left the mall they just had to take me to an expensive restaurant. I was none too happy about that.

"Why are we at _Rivers_?" I asked.

"Because we're hungry," Rachael answered as though she was talking to a two-year-old.

"No shit Sherlock," I retorted. "It's just that I don't have the money for this," I said standing in front of the door.

"Would you stop assuming that we're going to make you pay for everything?" Abby asked annoyed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "It's just a force of habit," I said walking in. Growing up poor will do that to you. The waiter led us to a table, took our drink order, and left. Some waiter he was. I didn't even catch his name.

"So you're eighteen and you work at the diner," Rosalie said trying to make conversation.

"Yeah. I also work at the Subway," I said.

"Really?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. I had worked at Subway a couple of months before the diner opened."

I opened the menu and immediately looked the prices. It's a knee-jerk reaction that I had. I did my best to contain the look of surprise on my face. This place was more expensive than I thought. The cheapest thing on here was the Fettuccine Alfredo at fifteen dollars. Well, it looked like I knew what I was getting.

"So, tell me about yourselves," I said closing the menu.

"Well, I'm twenty-one. I go to the University of Connecticut for journalism. As you know Jasper's my twin brother. He's only two minutes and thirty seconds older than me, and he won't let me forget it. We met the Cullens when we were ten years old. We had just moved to Forks, Washington. When Alice came over, introduced herself, and took us to her house. We've been inseparable since then," Rosalie said as the waiter came back with our drinks. He took our order and left. I still didn't catch his name.

"Are you serious?" Alice asked.

"What?" I asked confused.

"You ordered the cheapest thing on the menu," she accused me as she sat back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't even look at the prices," I lied.

"Yes, you did," she said. Damn. Hurry up and think of an excuse.

"If I did you would've seen me hyperventilating," I said.

"True," she said accepting my answer.

Whew! That was a close one. Who would've thought that thinking about not spending too much money would get a rise out of her. I still didn't see how Edward thought she was scary. I just didn't want to hear anymore lectures.

"Okay Ali, what's your story?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"My real name is Mary Alice, but I don't like it. So I go by Alice or Ali. I'm twenty, but I guess you knew that seeing as how I'm Edward's twin. Anyway, we've lived in Forks my entire life. My parents still live there. The rest of us moved out once we went to college. I'm going to Briarwood College in Southington, Connecticut to become a fashion buyer, and I should be done in about two years," she finished taking a drink.

"Well, you guys certainly have a more interesting life than mine," I said taking a drink.

"Why's that?" Rose asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Well of course. You are dating my brother after all," Alice said.

That took me of guard. Why would her brother want to date me? I wasn't anything special. He deserved someone better than me. I didn't think they saw the pang of sadness in my eyes because they just sat there waiting for me to tell my story. If they did see it they didn't let it show or even ask about it, and I'm glad they didn't. I'd already let some things I normally didn't do slide, but I couldn't let them get too close to me or I'd lose them. They'd either get tired of me and leave or something bad would happen to take them away from me. If there was anything thing that I had learned over the past eighteen years was that anything close to you could be taken away from you at any second. This had happened to me more times than I'd like to count.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" I asked. If I know what they want to know then it'll be easier to tell them about me.

"When and where were you born?" Rose asked.

"I was born in Mangum, Oklahoma on September thirteenth," I said.

"Where's that?" Alice asked.

"About two hours southwest from here," I said taking a drink.

"Was that your family that came into the diner yesterday?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"If you don't mind me asking. Who's who?" she asked.

"I'll start with the women in the family first," I said preparing myself. "The Mexican woman is my Grandma Maria. The woman with long black hair is my Aunt Rhonda. The one with short red hair is my Aunt Sara. The woman with like a burgundy-red colored hair is my mom Reneé. The woman with shoulder-length, dark brown hair is my Aunt Lannette. The girl with long, light brown hair is my sister Brittney. The girl with long dark brown almost black hair is my cousin Ryan. The one with short blonde hair is my cousin Katelynn. The girl with dark tan skin and curly brown hair is my cousin Bailee. The little girl with short blonde hair is Madison. And the last little girl with long red hair is my cousin Elizabeth," I said taking a drink.

"Who are the guys?" Abby asked.

"The oldest man is my Uncle Matt. The one short, dirty-blonde hair is my cousin Austin. The little one with short, light brown hair is my cousin Nathan. The little boy with black hair is my brother Alex. The baby with black hair is my youngest brother Gabriel. And the baby boy with red hair is my cousin Robert ," I said as the waiter came back with our food.

"You have a lot of people in your family," Rose said.

"That's not including my dad's side," I said taking a bite of my food.

"Your parents aren't together?" Alice asked.

"No. They got a divorce when I was three," I said taking another bite.

"How old is your mom?" Rose asked. "She can't be older than forty," she said taking a bite.

"She's thirty-two," I said. It was quiet for several minutes after that. I wasn't worried about what they thought about that because this was the normal reaction I got when I told people this. It got really old.

"So that means your mom was fourteen when she had you," Alice said shocked after she did the math.

"Yeah, my dad was nineteen," I said taking a drink.

"How old is your sister?" Rose asked.

"Sixteen," I replied.

"Wow," Alice said.

"And you're okay with that?" Rose asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean I didn't really have a choice on the way that turned," I laughed bitterly.

"Okay, so how old is everyone else?" Alice asked trying to change the subject. I didn't miss the grateful glance Rose threw her way.

"I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable with that?" I asked Rose. Why were people so weirded out that my mother was so young. That just meant that I got to grow old with her. We had plans to live in the same nursing home and chase the hot doctors. I was proud of that fact damn it. Not many people could say they basically grew up with their mom. I always thought people were just jealous.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed. "It's just that I'm trying to imagine it, but I can't," she said. "I'm sorry if I offended you," she apologized.

"Don't be," I said shrugging my shoulders. "I get that reaction all of the time. So don't worry about it," I said giving her a small smile. It really wasn't that big of a damn deal. People made it out to be so much more than it actually was.

"Okay, everyone just totally ignored my question," Alice said pouting.

"I'm sorry Alice," I apologized. "Maria is fifty-nine. Rhonda is thirty-five. Sara is thirty-four. You know how old my mom is. Matt is twenty-nine. Lannette is twenty-eight. You know how old Brittney is. Austin and Ryan are fifteen. Katelynn and Bailee are eleven. Madison is eight. Nate and Elizabeth are seven. Alex is five. And Gabe and Robby are two.," I explained.

"Wow. That's a lot of birthdays to remember," Rosalie said.

"Yeah, well I've had eighteen years to remember all of them," I said as I finished my food.

"I think we should go," Alice suggested. "We only have two more hours to do your hair and make-up."

"Yeah, we should get going," Rose agreed.

I thought I was the only one who wasn't looking forward to the next two hours. I just wanted to get it over and done with so I could be with Edward. That was, if he hadn't changed his mind. Learning a little about him from Alice pushed that thought out of my mind quickly though. I knew I'd only known him for two days, but it seemed like I'd been with him and his family forever. And I didn't care how corny that sounded because it was the truth damn it. I thought that maybe Edward was the key to make me feel like I belonged somewhere. I just hoped it fit because if it didn't. I didn't know what I'd do.

**There's chap. 5. like I said to make up for neglecting you guys I'm posting several chapters right now. Please please please review. It makes me smile.**

** ~Fell Bell~**


	7. Chapter 7

**See? I told you I was going to post another chapter. Hehe. I hope you liked the last one, and this one too.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! Except for the stuff in my room. And my car.**

Chapter 6

When Eric dropped me off at my house I was in this euphoric state. I could not believe what just happened, but I knew it did because I was still wearing the dress the girls bought me. Speaking of which, I was very proud of myself for not spilling anything on it. One thing was for sure though. I had to get out of these damn shoes. I was surprised that I didn't have any blisters since we spent the better part of the night dancing. When I got into the shower, I couldn't help but think about how the whole night turned out.

After the girls shoved me into Alice's bathroom to take a shower, Rosalie dried my hair. I thought this was where I started to doze off. Which didn't surprise me at all, but to them it was like the most amazing talent in the world.

"How do you do that?" Alice asked me for the millionth time. I wasn't expecting anybody to say anything because it scared the shit out of me. I hadn't even realized that I had dozed off again.

"Do what?" I asked trying to figure out what I may have missed.

"Fall asleep while we're poking and prodding your face," she said amazed.

"Well, since I went shopping with you guys I missed my nap. And I've been up since about four o'clock this morning. So I'm pretty tired," I said yawning.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Rose asked looking at me through the mirror. "We would have made Edward reschedule your date until you had a day off," she said.

"Don't worry about it. I had fun with you guys. So it doesn't really matter to me that I didn't get my nap," I said softly as I looked at Rose through the mirror, and then at Alice who was sitting on the bathroom counter.

"But still, I feel really bad now," Alice said bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Really you guys. Don't worry about," I said reassuringly. "Besides, I wouldn't have been able to do this any other night," I explained.

"Why not?" Rose asked as she continued to curl my hair.

"I have to work everyday this week," I said stifling a yawn.

"Don't you ever get a break," Alice asked.

"Between two jobs, the kids, and keeping an eye on Mattie and Tawny, no I don't get a break," I said giving her a soft smile.

"Why do you work so hard?" Rose asked. "You're just going to tire yourself out," she said. I looked at her for about five minutes trying to explain toher why I do so much. But as I looked at her perfect face, I couldn't come up with anything. No one hadever asked me that before. So I never thought about why I have done it. After several more minutes of debating with myself, I managed to come up with some type of answer.

"Everyone expects me to."

"Why?" she asked.

"I've always done what everyone has asked me to, and sometimes even more," I said looking at Alice, who was getting some eyeshadow.

"Why?" Alice asked. I was really starting to hate that word. It was only cute when three-year-olds use it.

"I . . . don't know," I replied honestly. Nobody said anything after that. After Alice put some eyeshadow and eyeliner on me I dozed off again. I must have actually fallen asleep because when I woke up it was 6:30. Damn. Why didn't they wake me up? I got up from the chair that I was sitting in, and walked into Alice's room. I was standing in the doorway watching them argue back and forth over whether or not I should wear the leggings. This went on for about five minutes until Alice noticed that I was standing there.

"Hey, did you sleep okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said yawning. "How long was I out for?" I asked walking towards them and sitting on her bed.

"About an hour," Rose said.

"You guys didn't have to let me sleep that long," I said laying down.

"I think you deserved it," Alice said smiling.

"Thanks."

"No problemo," Rosalie giggled.

I closed my eyes and actually let myself enjoy this. There were no screaming kids running around. No people yelling at me because their order was wrong. And, most importantly, not having to worry about what's going to happen in the next five minutes if I didn't get something done right. But all good things must come to an end. I wouldn't feel this way for very long.

"Earth to Bella," Alice said waving her hand in front of my face.

"Yes?" I asked smiling at her. I sat up and looked at the girls who were holding my dress, leggings, and shoes.

"What do you think?" Rose asked.

"Leggings or no leggings?" Alice asked.

"Why are we choosing?" I asked exasperated. "You guys just bought them. You can't just let them go to waste," I complained.

"Oh please. You can wear them with something else. So will you just pick already," Rose said annoyed.

"Oh fine," I huffed. "No leggings. It's too hot for the extra clothing," I said. It's true. I mean, it was like ninety-five degrees outside, and it was almost time for the sun to start setting!

"I knew it," Alice beamed.

"Oh shut it," Rose pouted. They threw the dress and shoes at me, and told me to change. Once I had everything on, they made a few more touch-ups, and forced me to look in the mirror. I couldn't even recognize myself! Was this the same girl I saw in the mirror this morning? This girl that I was seeing now just couldn't be me. She had her hair in curls, blue eyeshadow and eyeliner that made her green-brown eyes pop, and a light blush across her cheeks. She's too beautiful to be me. I was close to tears until I realized that Alice and Rosalie were still in the room. I think I managed to pull myself together before they noticed anything. I may be letting things slide, but I'd be damned if I let them see me cry. I had a serious problem with crying. I just didn't like it. To me, it's weak and showed how vulnerable a person is. Then again, I felt like I was never allowed to cry in the first place. So that may be why I felt that way. Either way, crying was a big no-no.

"You look beautiful," Rose said quietly. I turned around to give her a hug.

"Thank you," I whispered. She looked at me with soft eyes and kissed my forehead.

"Your welcome," she whispered back.

"Oh I see how it is!" Abby whined. "You tell her thanks andgive her hugs, butyou leave me out!" she yelled with tears in her eyes.

"Oh don't get your panties in a twist. I was going to give you a hug next. So quit your whining," I said rolling my eyes. I walked over to her and gave her a huge hug. I think I would have squeezed the life out of her if she hadn't have squeezed just as hard back. For a little thing, she sure was strong.

"Thank you so much Ali," I said.

"Your welcome," she whispered. I think she would have kissed me on the forehead too if it weren't for the fact that I was about five inches taller than her with my shoes on. So she just settled with standing on her tippy toes and kissing my nose. I just giggled at her enthusiasm. I was giggling a lot lately.

"I think we should go downstairs and introduce her now," Rosalie suggested.

"Count to thirty then follow us down okay," Alice said.

"Okay."

Alice left the room first while Rose stayed behind looking at me for a few more seconds. I had no idea what she was thinking when she saw me, but whatever it was made her smile. She left the room when I got to ten, and that was when my nerves really started to kick in. What if he didn't like the dress, or changed his mind once he saw me? When I got to twenty I left the room and started to walk down the stairs. I wasn't looking anywhere except at my feet for fear of falling on my face. Towards the last five steps I took a chance and stopped.

I looked up to see seven people staring at me. I wasn't sure what it was they saw, but it was starting to make me self-conscious. I looked at everyone trying to decipher the looks on their faces. I deliberately saved Edward's face for last, and what I saw made everything I had ever gone through completely worth it. I would gladly go through it ten times just to see him like this. The way his eyes shone in the light made the emotion in them all the brighter. They had shock, adoration, and pure happiness in them, and I was sure my eyes projected the same. Corny be damned.

We stayed that way. Just staring at each other for I don't know long. It was like time itself had just frozen. There was nothing but the two of us. I was pretty sure that a nuclear war could have been going on and neither one of us would have noticed. It wasn't until someone had cleared their throat that we were broken out ofout reverie. My cheeks turned a bright red, and Edward just let out a chuckle. He reached for my hand and led me the rest of the way down.

"You look absolutely beautiful," he whispered in my ear. "And that doesn't even begin to cover it," he said smiling. Even though I didn't believe him one tiny bit it was still nice to hear.

"Thank you," I whispered. I blushed again when he kissed my forehead. I had a feeling that my cheeks were going to be permanently red after tonight. He led me to where the rest of our family was. I mean, the rest of _his_ family. _Don't get too attached Bella. They could leave you anytime they want._

"You look gorgeous dear," Esme said giving me an oddly warm hug. It felt like an actual motherly hug. It was something that I was definitely not used to. Seeing as how I'm the one to give these types of hugs.

"Thank you," I said when she let me go. She had a strange look in her eyes, but I couldn't tell what is was. Edward turned me to Carlisle next. Ew . . . fathers. Not that I have anything against Carlisle. It's just that my father and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. He ruined all father figures for me. Not that I was going to let any of them know that. Especially Carlisle.

"Thank you," he whispered when he hugged me. When I pulled back I was about to ask him why he thanked me, but he was at Esme's side before I had the chance to say anything. Edward reluctantly took me towards Emmett, and boy did he look really excited. He and Alice should have been twins. Emmett took Edward's arm off of me, and put me in a vice grip that he called a hug. I swore he would have crushed me to death if it weren't for Edward and Rose.

"Let her go you dumbass!" they shouted at the same time.

"What?" he asked. "I can't give my little sister a hug without getting yelled at?" he asked pouting. I was barely aware of them telling him that I couldn't breathe when he because I was too dumbstruck on the fact that he called me his sister. I really didn't know why this was making me so emotional. I would've cried if I wasn't in front of everyone. I turned to Jasper and gave him a hug. I didn't think anyone noticed because they were watching Edward and Emmett argue.

"You look beautiful," Jasper said.

"Thank you."

"Let yourself enjoy tonight. Don't think about anything else. You need the break."

"I'll try. I'm not making any promises. But I'll try."

"That's all I can ask."

"Thanks Jasper."

"Anytime," he whispered kissing my forehead and hugging me. When Edward turned me towards the girls next Alice stopped him.

"We already did this. So just go already!" she demanded. Edward was morethanhappy to oblige.

"Yes ma'am," he said pretending to tip his invisible hat to her. I just laughed because to be honest it looked kind of ridiculous.

We drove for about twenty minutes, in a comfortable silence, before he pulled up to Lake Hefner. As soon as he turned towards the parking lot I knew exactly where we were going. Esperanza's.

"Why are we here?" I asked demandingly.

"Um . . . to eat," he said confused. I was not fucking stupid. I knew what we were there to do. I wanted to know why we were at this particular restaurant.

"No. I mean why are you taking me to the most expensive restaurant in all of Oklahoma?" I asked not looking at him, but at the sun moving closer to the water.

"Because I wanted to take you here," he said unbuckling his seat belt.

"But it's too expensive," I whined. I couldn't believe that I was actually whining. Oh god, I was turning into my sister.

"So," he said getting out of the car and walked around to my side.

"Oh god, you're one of those rich people that like to flaunt their money," I stated as he opened my door.

"No, I am not. I'd rather have just enough to get me by, but, as you can see, that's not the case," he said helping me get out of the car.

"Well if that's the case," I said sarcastically. He was just saying that because he didn't know what it was like not to have money.

"It is the case," he laughed. He took my hand and led me inside. When we met the maitre d' Edward told him he had a reservation for two under the name Cullen. Everything was all fine and dandy until I stepped in front of Edward so we could follow him. The guy suddenly stopped and raked his eyes up and down my body. I had the sudden urge to grab the fork that was conveniently at my side, and jam it into those eyes of his if he didn't stop. I would've too if Edward hadn't growled at him. The guy stopped looking at me the second he saw Edward's face, and led us on our table. He left just as quickly.

"Did you actually growl at him?" I asked giggling.

"Yes, I did. And don't think that I didn't see you eyeballing that fork either," he said smirking. I just blushed and looked at my, suddenly very interesting, lap. Our waiter showed up asking what we would like to drink, but not before getting an eyeful of my boobs. He had better watch it or he was going to end up with a fork in his eyes. I told him none too rudely that I wanted a Dr. Pepper. I think he got the hint because he looked surprised that I had growled at him. Eric ordered the same thing I did before the waiter left. I didn't even catch his name. What was with waiters today? First, the guy at Rivers now him. It was getting really annoying.

"Did you actually growl at him?" he asked using my own words against me.

"Yes, I did," I said using his words against him. "And don't think that I didn't see you aiming for that knife," I giggled.

"Hey, I saw you going for the fork again," he smirked. His eyes and smirk were going to get me in a lot of trouble if I didn't watch it. When I went to reach for the menu Edward grabbed it before I did.

"Hey, give that to me!" I said a little more loudly than I had intended.

"No. You'll just look at the prices, and not at what you want," he said as though I didn't just yell and gain a few looks from people in the process. The girls must have tipped him off on that little quirk I had.

"Well, then how am I supposed to know what to order?" I asked.

"I'm going to read it to you," he said opening the menu.

"The hell you are. Is there fettuccine alfredo?" I asked annoyed. I really didn't want him reading the menu to me out loud.

"Why yes, there is," he said glancing at the menu.

"Of course there is," I said being a smart-ass. "I mean, what Italian restaurant doesn't have fettuccine alfredo?" I asked rhetorically.

"What restaurant indeed?" he retorted. When the waiter came back with our drinks, Edward ordered for the both of us. I was trying not to think about how much money I was about to eat while Edward seemed amused by my facial expression.

"Why are you making that face?" he asked as soon as the waiter left.

"I'm trying not to think about how much money I'm about to stuff in my face," I said taking a drink.

"Don't worry," he said setting his drink down. "You ordered the cheapest thing on the menu," he said chuckling. Why did I doubt that? I bent my head down so he couldn't see the redness on my cheeks. This only made him laugh even more which annoyed me to no end, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want to ruin tonight. When I looked up I caught him staring at me, but he didn't look ashamed.

"What?" I asked nervously.

"You're beautiful," he replied seriously. When he said it like this it was hard not to believe him, but I managed.

"No, I'm not," I said looking down again. I think my new favorite place to look now is my lap.

"Why do you think that?" he asked.

"Are we doing anything after this?" I asked after several minutes. I hoped he would just drop the subject on me being beautiful. I really didn't feel like delving into my issues right now. It wasn't that I couldn't answer him. It was just that I didn't know how to. Why did I have to be so damn complicated?

"Dancing," he said.

"Like ballroom type dancing?" I asked.

"We're not going to go all out on it, but yes something like that," he said smiling.

"I haven't done anything like that in about seven years," I said laughing.

"That's a long time," he said as the waiter came back with our food. As I was taking the first bite a thought came to me. How on earth did he manage to pull this off? I mean, it took several months just to make a reservation. This place was always booked. If you wanted to eat dinner here one night then you had better call months in advance or else you might as well just eat at a fast food place. So . . . if he asked me out yesterday. How did he do this? I knew he couldn't have just pulled it out of his ass.

"How did you do it?" I asked him as he was taking a bite.

"Do what?"

"Get a reservation for today. It takes months to do that."

"It pays to know the right people."

"And who are these people?"

"Friends of my father."

"Well, that's better than bribing them with a million dollar tip," I said sarcastically.

"Much better," he whispered. We didn't say anything after that. It wasn't one of those awkward silences. It was comfortable and relaxing. It didn't need mindless chatter. It was . . . perfect.

After we finished eating he took me to the patio behind the restaurant. A few couples were there, but other than that it was pretty much empty. There were no young people. They were all old. I guess only old people do this type of dancing anymore. I know I wasn't very good at it. I didn't remember any of the dances or even the steps that I did when I was in fifth grade.

"You better not laugh at me," I said seriously.

"I won't," he promised.

"You say that now. I don't even remember the steps," I complained as he put him arm around my waist.

"Don't worry. Just follow me," he whispered in my ear. I felt a shiver run down my spine. Damn hormones.

"Easier said than done," I giggled. When _You and Me_ by _Lifehouse _came on he started to move. Following him was a lot easier than I thought it would be. He didn't do any fancy moves so that's probably why. I started to sing along with the words as we spun around. He started to sing the chorus with me. His voice was mesmerizing. I didn't even notice that everyone else had stopped dancing. It was only when the song was over that I realized they were staring at us. They were all smiling knowing smiles. Apparently they knew something that I didn't. We danced to four more songs before we took a walk along the coast of the lake. The sun was setting just over the water. It made things that were already beautiful multiply. Especially Edward.

"What are you going to Yale for?" he asked.

"I want to be a lawyer in social services," I replied. "What about you?"

"I'm going to be a doctor."

I hadn't noticed that he stopped walking until he was pulling on my hand for me to come back to him. I'd never felt this comfortable with anyone. Especially with someone that I had just met. I didn't like people so this was entirely knew to me. Normally, a person had to make me like them. He didn't even try. Just one look into his eyes and I was a goner. It was almost the same with his family. I spent a little less than a day with them and I already felt more comfortable around them than I did with my family. I didn't know what to make of it. This was all happening so fast that it was starting to scare me, but I'd be damned if I told him that.

"Why do you want to be a lawyer?" he asked as he sat down pulling me with him. I wasn't expecting that so I practically fell in his lap. He didn't seem to mind though. Instead of pushing me to where I was sitting next to him, he just pulled me closer and turned me so that I was facing him.

"I . . .," I hesitated. No one had ever asked me why I wanted to be a lawyer. So I didn't know what to tell him. _I_ didn't even know the real reason why I wanted to be one. I just know it was what I had always wanted to do. I thought that if maybe I were to think really hard I could come up with some kind of answer for him. I tried stalling so I took off my shoes. "I honestly don't know."

"How do you not know?" he asked taking my shoes from me and placing them on the ground next to us.

"I've never thought about it."

"Well, think about it."

"I will. And when I come up with a reason-"

"I'll be the first to know?"

"Yes. You'll be the first to know," I laughed quietly.

"Good."

There was a very calm and peaceful silence for a while. I turned around to where my back was against his chest. We watched the sky turn pink and orange as the sun set. It was beautiful to say the least.

"Why do you want to be a doctor?" I asked breaking the peaceful silence.

"My father's a doctor."

"He forcing you to do it or something?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"My father is the most compassionate man I know. He always puts other people's needs before his own. He loves to help people and gets great satisfaction out of it. He loves working at the hospital, but never once did he put his work before us. He always found time to go to Emmett's football games, my baseball games, and Alice's ballet recitals. He never even missed a birthday, and that's including Jasper and Rosalie's. If they had something that was important to them he went to it. My parents basically adopted them. My father is my hero. I feel like I don't have to prove anything to him, but I want to do it anyway. I know that if I had chosen to do something else he would have been just as proud as he is now. If there is anyone on this planet that I want to be like. It's him," he finished.

I didn't know what he was thinking, but I sure as hell know what I was feeling. I was jealous. I was jealous of his relationship with his father. My dad was never a father to me. He never wanted to see me because he wanted to. He only saw me because he felt obligated. When his bitch of a wife felt like playing mommy he would rush to come get my sister and me, but when that feeling was over he rushed us back to my mom. If my grandparents wanted to see us he would come get us, but as soon as our break was over he would give us back. I remember I cried once over him. He was passing through McKenzie, Tennessee (where I was living when I was five), and Brittney and I wanted to see him. I was telling him where our house was, but he kept getting lost. So he told me to just forget it and left town. I cried myself to sleep I cried so much. That was the last time I ever shed a tear over him.

"You're lucky," I said after awhile.

"How?"

"You have a father who's always been there for you."

"Yours hasn't?"

"No. My parents got a divorce when I was three. Since then my father, if that's what you want to call him, and I have had a rocky relationship."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't really bother me anymore," I said hoping he wouldn't catch the break in my voice.

"How long has it been since you've talked to him?" he asked.

"Almost a year," I replied. He checked his watch and sighed.

"It's getting late. I should probably take you home," he said.

"What time is it?" I asked.  
"Nine."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he laughed. I hadn't even noticed that the sky was completely pitch black now. The stars where out and I saw one that stood out over the rest. It was shining a bright blue color. It may not have even been a star. It could have been something else, but to me it's going to be a star damn it. It reminded me of the way Eric's eyes shined as I made my way down the stairs. Yep. It was official. I was turning into a softie. Not that I was going to let anyone know that.

When we got into the car he gave my shoes back to me. I just started laughing. I forgot all about my shoes until just now. I thanked him as he turned his radio on. Some weird country song was playing so I couldn't help but make a disgusted face.

"Not a fan of country huh?" he asked lifting the console and taking a burned cd out of a case.

"Not at all," I replied.

"Me either," he said putting the cd in. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but _Rise Above This _by _Seether_ was definitely not it. Not very many people knew about this song so it surprised me that he did. I started to sing along and just let myself go. He looked over at me and smiled. He took my hand and held it all the way to my house. He took directions a hell of a lot better than I did that was for sure. When he pulled in front my house he turned his car off. I expected him to just drop me off, but he got out and opened my door for me. He walked me all the way to my door and stopped. He looked like he was pondering something before he leaned in to kiss me. His lips molded to mine in a way that I thought I'd never understand. All I knew was that I wanted to stay that way forever. I didn't want him to leave, but I knew that if my mom saw that he was here in the morning she would go ballistic. When he pulled away I opened my eyes to see that his were still closed, and that he was smiling.

"I have been wanting to do that since yesterday," he whispered.

"You're not the only one," I giggled.

"Do you have to work tomorrow?" he asked pulling me closer to him.

"I work at Subway in the morning," I replied.

"When's your next day off?"

"I think I'm off Saturday."

"Well, then we should do something if you are."

"I'll call you when I find out."

"Okay, I think I should go now. I don't want my mom thinking that I died or something," he laughed.

"Fine," I pouted.

"Don't worry," he said kissing my pout away. "I'll see you tomorrow. What time do you get off?" he asked.

"Four."

"I'll see you then," he said kissing me for the last time. I unlocked the door and stepped inside. He walked towards his car and got in. I made sure he left safely before I shut and locked the door.

After I got out of the shower I laid in bed for about an hour before I finally went to sleep. My last thought was: whatever happened now I wasn't question it. If it felt right then I'd go with it. I knew that I'd be able to get through anything as long as Edward was around. Maybe I had found my star after all.

**I'm not done posting chapters. I still have a few more to give you. So please review. It will more than likely make me love you.**

** ~Fell Bell~**


	8. Chapter 8

**So... this is kind of a long chapter. I hope you guys like it. I didn't realize it was going to be this long. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I didn't own _Twilight _prologue of this story then I still don't own it now.**

Chapter 7

Didn't you just love it when you were in a deep sleep, dreaming a wonderful dream, and then . . . your phone vibrated. Ugh. I seriously thought about just throwing my phone at the wall. Damn people and their damn need to call at eight in the damn morning. Why was someone calling me an hour _before_ I had to get up and get ready for work anyway? People knew not to do this because I would kick their ass. I'd done it before. I looked at my phone to see who was calling me. Subway. Oh what wonderful joy. Thomas, the man who owned the store, must be there seeing as how we didn't open until ten.

"Hello?" I hoarsely asked.

"Bella?" the voice asked. Duh. Who else would it be? You called my cell phone. Of course it was going to be me that answered. Dumbass.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry that I woke you up, but I thought that I should call you now," he said.

"Is something wrong?" I asked sitting up.

"No." he replied. "I just wanted to tell you that we're going to be closed today," he said.

"Why?"

"Well everyone is on vacation so there isn't enough people to work with you."

"I thought Sam was working with me."

"He had a family emergency in Mexico. I'm just going to close for the rest of the week anyway. The Mustang store will still be open though."

"Oh."

"I would help you but I have a plane to catch in about thirty minutes."

"Oh, okay. Well, I hope you guys have fun on your vacation."

"Thanks," he said before he hung up.

I put my phone back under my pillow and laid down. I was still tired but I wanted to let Edward know that I had the rest of the day off. So I pulled my phone back out and decided to text him rather than call him. He might still be asleep. He could read themessage as soon as he got up anyway.

_Hey. I don't have to work today. Not enough people. I don't have to work at Subway for the rest of the week. So I now have today and Thursday off. Text me when you get the chance._

_ ~Bells~_

I decided that going back to sleep was the best decision I had ever made. That was until my phone started to vibrate . . . again.

_That's good news. I know it's kind of early so I'm going to let you sleep. Let me know when you get up and around._

_ -Edward-_

What the hell was he doing up so early? When I became president I was going to make it illegal for anyone to be out of bed before noon. This was just ridiculous.

_What are you doing up so early?_

_ ~Bells~_

I really hoped that I didn't wake him up. I would feel really bad if I did. I mean I hated it when people wake me up.

_You woke me up._

_ -Edward-_

Damn it. Now I felt like a jackass.

_I'm sorry. :(_

_ ~Bells~_

I hoped he wasn't mad at me because that would suck major ass. I didn't want to give him a reason to leave me. I was still waiting for him to get a clue and leave. Even though I didn't want him to.

_Don't worry about it. :) Do you want to do something now? We can if you want._

_ -Edward-_

Aww. He's so sweet. I would totally be up for doing something, but my ass was just too damn tired. Maybe after I got a couple of more hours of sleep.

_I would like to but I'm just too tired. Maybe at around two we can do something._

_~Bells~_

I hoped he wasn't banking on doing anything right now. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I was just so tired.

_Thank god. I was really hoping you would say that. I'm really tired too. I didn't get that much sleep. Alice and Rose were on my ass for most of the night._

_ -Edward-_

They should have left him alone. Wait. My family was going to do the same thing when I saw them again which was why I was going to avoid them as much as possible.

_That sucks. Doing interrogations huh?_

_ ~Bells~_

It's best to not make fun of him since I'm going to go through it too. It was a good thing everyone was busy.

_Yeah. Apparently they didn't believe me when I said that you had a good time. So the next time that you see them be prepared to get questioned. So I apologize in advance if you have no ears by the time they are done._

_ -Edward-_

Great. This was just great. Not only did I have to go through it with my family, but I got to do it again with his sisters. Oh the wonderful joy that I called my life.

_Oh. Nice._

_ ~Bells~_

I just had to remember that I couldn't yell at them like I could with my family.

_I know. I'll try and talk it out of them but I'm not promising anything._

_ -Edward-_

Maybe if he tried hard enough he'd be able to do it. Why did I get the feeling that it wouldn't work? Oh yeah, that's right. Because it wouldn't.

_It's alright. I'll deal with it when I see them. I'm pretty sure they would do it behind your back anyway._

_ ~Bells~_

Oh I knew they would. They'd do anything to get answers.

_Yeah they would. Anyway I'm going to let you go to sleep now. Call me when you get up._

_ -Edward-_

Oh that's right. He was tired too. Way to go Bella.

_Okay. See you later._

_ ~Bells~_

He didn't text back, but that was okay because I wasn't expecting him to. I thought that would have hurt my feelings if I weren't so tired, but right now I didn't give a shit. I rolled over and hugged my pillow. Oh my sweet bed. If anything went wrong my bed would always be there to welcome me with open arms. It never failed in making me feel better. As I drifted off I couldn't help but smile at the thought of Edward.

At around two o'clock I was lying in bed debating on whether or not I should go back to sleep when Mattie called and made that decision for me.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey what are you doing?" Mattie asked.

"Nothing. You?"

"I just got back and I'm bored. So . . . do you want to come fishing with me?"

"Yeah. That actually sounds like so much fun right now. But I was supposed to hang out with Edward today."

"Who's Edward?"

"A guy that I went on a date with yesterday."

"What? You went on a date and didn't bother to tell me? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Mattie, would you please calm down? I didn't get the chance to call you."

"Fine."

"I don't know if I should come or not."

"Just bring him Bella."

"I think his brothers and sisters will want to come."

"They can come too. I just want you to be there because I haven't seen you in a couple of days."

"Please do _not_ start this again Mattie."

"I'm not starting anything. I'm just saying that I want to spend as much time with you as I can before you leave."

"I know. Let me get up and around then I'll call Edward. Meet us there?"

"Yeah. How long do you think you're going to be?"

"About an hour. Give or take ten minutes."

"Damn. Why do they need that long to get ready for fishing?"

"It's his sisters."

"Oh god."

"Will you please be nice?"

"Yes. I promise I will be on my best behavior."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She hung up after that. I sat up and started to text Edward.

_Hey do you want to go fishing?_

_ ~Bells~_

I went to my closet and got a pair of blue shorts, a white tank top, and a pair of tennis shoes. It was really hot outside from what I could tell.

_Sure. But . . ._

_ -Edward-_

What the hell does that mean?

_But what?_

_ ~Bells~_

After I brushed my teeth I got dressed. I was putting my hair in a ponytail when he texted back. Ten minutes later.

_I've never been fishing before._

_ -Edward-_

When I read that I started laughing. Oh my god. He lived by the ocean yet he'd never been fishing. This just kept getting better and better.

_It's alright. I'll teach you. :) Hey do you think that your brothers and sisters will come? I know __Mattie is going to be there._

_ ~Bells~_

I went to the kitchen and fixed me a bowl of cereal. It was after lunch and I was eating breakfast. Did I give a rat's ass? Hell no.

_Yeah. They'll come. Are you sure you want them too? Who's Mattie?_

_ -Edward-_

I put my bowl in the sink and went back to my room. I laid down when I texted him back.

_Yes I'm sure. Mattie's my best friend. It was her idea to go fishing._

_ ~Bells~_

I started to wonder where Mom, Brittney, Alex, and Gabe were because it was awfully quiet. I went back into the kitchen and saw a note on the counter that I hadn't noticed before.

_Bells,_

_ We went to Mama's for the day._

_ Love,_

_ Mom_

That was nice. Well at least I wouldn't run into to them today. Now, if I could manage to come home after they went to bed that would be a miracle. No wishful thinking though because then it wouldn't happen. I realized that I had left my phone on my bed so I ran back to my room. I didn't want him thinking that I was mad at him or something.

_Oh. Okay. Do you want us to pick you up?_

_ -Edward-_

I should go to his house to make sure the girls were dressed accordingly. We wouldn't want them to lose a designer shirt to a fish now would we? I needed to stop. I actually liked them. They just made it too easy to make fun of them.

_I'll just come to your house. That way we can just go. Plus I need to make sure the girls won't wear something they don't need to._

_ ~Bells~_

I really hoped he didn't take that the wrong way. I really didn't make fun of them this time.

_That's a good idea. I haven't seen you in a long time. :(_

_ -Edward-_

That's really corny but really sweet at the same time. So I don't know whether I should be annoyed or flattered.

_You saw me last night silly._

_ ~Bells~_

I went with flattered. At least that meant he'd been thinking about me, and not about leaving me.

_I know. But that's too long._

_ -Edward-_

He was just too sweet. That was all there was to it. I'd never met anyone as sweet as him.

_Okay. I'll make it easier for the both of us. I'm leaving my house right now. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes._

_ ~Bells~_

I grabbed my car keys and all but flew to my car. I didn't even bother turning the radio down which was really loud for _Riot_ by _Three Days Grace_ to be playing since it was already a loud song, but I didn't care. I was in too much of a rush to even think about caring. When I got to the stop sign at the end of my street he texted me back.

_Please hurry!_

_ -Edward-_

This was another one of those times where I was glad that I didn't see any cops because I got to his house in less than ten minutes. I didn't get lost either so that made me all the more happy. I could usually remember where something was after only going there once. So that helped a little bit. When I parked the car I got out and ran halfway to Edward (who was already outside when I pulled up), and jumped into his arms. I was thankful that he was strong because if he wasn't we would have both fallen on the ground.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hi," he whispered back before he kissed me.

"I missed you," I said when he pulled back.

"I did too."

"I think we should go inside," I said as I looked over his shoulder to see the whole family standing on the porch. He blushed, but didn't set me down. He just carried me all the way to the house like I weighed nothing. Which I _knew_ is not true. "You can put medown now you know."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I didn't mind the trip," I said smiling. Before I was even on the ground I was tackled again. "You do realize that you guys can hug me without including the ground?" I asked the girls.

"Yes, but we're just too excited!" Alice all but screamed in my ear.

"I'm glad I don't need my right ear to hear anything. I have my left one to do that."

"Sorry," she whispered.

"I'll forgive you if you two get off of me."

"Sure," Rosalie said.

"I think you girls should get dressed now," I suggested.

"You need to come with us," Alice demanded.

"No I don't. You just need to wear shorts, a tank top, and some tennis shoes. That's all."

"But we need to talk," Rose said.

"I had a fantabulous time and I didn't want him to leave. There talk over."

"But we want details!" they whined.

"We can save the details for another time because Mattie is waiting on us."

"Oh fine!" they both huffed. I smiled as they stomped up the stairs to get dressed. Another victory for me.

"What's fantabulous?" Ethan asked. I started laughing for the millionth time today.

"It's fantastic and fabulous combined into one word," I explained after I could breathe again.

"Oh," he said after a minute.

"Dumbass," Jasper mumbled. I hit him in the arm since I heard him.

"Be nice," I warned. Emmett started laughing at him before I shot him a look too. "That means you too Emmett." He stopped laughing when he saw that I was serious.

"You are just full of surprises aren't you?" Edward asked.

"Yes I am. Raising eleven kids will do that to you."

"What?" Esme screamed. "You have eleven kids?"

Everyone looked shocked when they heard her scream. I guessed she never screamed like that before. Well, then they would be surprised if they ever met my family. Besides, why did everyone assume those kids are mine? Do I look old enough to have eleven kids? I mean I wasn't even two when my sister was born.

"No I don't."

"Then how have you raised eleven kids?"

"I have a sister, two brothers and eight cousins."  
"Oh. You scared me there for a minute."

"Mom!" Edward yelled.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed that. It's just the way that you said it made me think that-"

"You are definitely not the first to think that so don't worry about it."

"Why are you raising them anyway? Do they not have parents or something?"

"They have parents. It's just that I helped raise them."

Esme led me to the living room and sat on the couch beside me. Edward was right behind her and moved around to where he was sitting behind me. Once again I was in his lap, but I couldn't bring myself to care that we were in front of his family.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Eighteen."

I found myself waiting for someone to just kick me out.

"No you're not," she said in a disbelieving tone.

What? Wait. I got this one all of the time too so I shouldn't be surprised.

"Yes I am," I said sighing.

"You can't be. You act too much like me."

"I get that all the time."

"Mom, I really don't want to picture you when I think of her. That is just too weird for me," Edward complained. Emmett, Jasper, Esme, Carlisle (He followed the guys in), and I started laughing.

"I'm sorry honey," she said when she calmed down some. "How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Raise eleven kids. I could barely handle Emmett before the twins came along."

"Hey! I resent that!" Emmett exclaimed.

"You were a little shithead," Carlisle said laughing. When I looked at Emmett and Carlisle I was once again reminded of the relationship that I never had with my dad. We couldn't say two words to each other without one of us getting mad. This started happening after I turned sixteen. After keeping it in for so long I exploded and told him exactly how I felt about him. Let's just say he didn't take it so well.

Alice and Rosalie came down the stairs when my phone vibrated. Probably Mattie wondering if we're ready.

_Are you guys ready?_

_ *Mattie*_

I knew it. She wasn't the most patient person on the planet. In fact, she had no patience whatsoever which was hilarious considering who her family was. They couldn't go five minutes without screaming down each other's throats.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked them.

"Yes," Alice said.

"We don't have any fishing gear though," Rose said.

"Yes, we do," Carlisle said.

"We do?" Alice asked.

"Yes. I go fishing when we come down here. Do you think I stay in the house all day while you guys go out?"

"What about Mom?" Emmett asked.

"I go with him of course," she replied.

"Mom goes fishing?" Edward asked not quite believing it.

"Yes I do."

Carlisle came back with all of the fishing gear he owned which was surprisingly a lot. He had enough fishing poles for all of us including Mattie. Speaking of which. I should probably text her back. I really didn't feel like dealing with a pissed off Mattie today.

_Yeah. We'll be there in about ten minutes._

_ ~Bells~_

"Well, Mattie's ready so we should probably head out," I said.

"We're not all going to fit in my car," Edward said.

"We could take your car and my truck," Emmett suggested.

"Good idea."

"How far are we going?" Emmett asked me.

"Not far. About three miles north."

"Okay."

We went to the garage where Ethan put all of the gear in the back of his

white F-150 truck. Rose was going to ride with him while Jasper, Alice, Edward, and I were going in Edward's car.

"You can drive since you know where we're going," Eric said.

"What?" Alice screamed and got out of the car. "You never let anyone drive your car. Even when you don't know where you're going!"

"Shut the hell up Alice."

Edward handed me his keys and got in the passenger seat. I didn't know what to think about their little confrontation so I didn't say anything. I backed out of the driveway and headed north. It was surprisingly closer than I expected it to be. When we got there Mattie was already waiting for us. I parked outside the gate and had everyone follow me to the pond. Mattie ran up to me and all but jumped on me.

"I missed you!" Mattie yelled.

"Missed you too."

"So which one's Edward?"

"This is Edward, Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie. Guys this is Mattie."

They waved and greeted one another. Then one of those awkward silences passed where no one knows what to say.

"Mattie, why don't you help me set up the fishing poles?" I suggested.

"Sure."

Emmett handed me all of their fishing gear and Mattie and I set it up for them since this was their first time fishing.

"Okay. You hold the pole behind your back then throw it, holding this button down right here, like you're throwing a ball," I explained to them. "Once you feel a tug pull the pole back to ensure that you have the fish hooked then start reeling like this."

I looked at everyone making sure there were no confused faces before giving them each a pole. Once we all got settled we all started making casual conversation with each other.

"Oh before I forget. If you don't want to touch the fish let Mattie or me know and we'll take care of it," I said.

"We're not going to eat the fish are we?" Alice asked.

"No we're not. Once we catch them we unhook them and then throw them back into the pond."

"Good."

I walked towards Mattie to see if she was okay because she hadn't said a wordsince I introduced everyone which was really out of character for her. She couldn't go five minutes without saying anything. I hoped she wasn't mad at me for bringing everyone.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey."

"What's wrong? You've barely said anything since we got here."

"I'm just looking at you and Edward."

"Why?"

"I've never seen you act like this around anyone before."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on! Do you not realize what you do?"

"Mattie, what are you talking about?"

"You have this sort of glow around you. Your laughter is different. Your smile is different. _You_ are different. You seem . . . taken by him. I've never seen you _let_ someone this close to you before. I'm just amazed by it. Utterly amazed. That's all."

"I've only known him for three days."

"Does it feel right to you?"

"Yes. But-"

"Then it doesn't matter. As long as you go by what you feel is right then you'll be fine. You've always done that so you shouldn't have any problem."

"I know," I said laughing.

"Go."

"Go where?"

"Go to him. I know you want to."

"Thanks."

"Your welcome."

As I was walking to Edward I smiled. I realized Mattie was right. I actually _felt_ different. But it was a good different. He smiled back and tucked me into his chest with the arm that wasn't holding the fishing pole.

"You feeling any better?" he asked.

"What?"

"You seemed worried about Mattie."

"Yeah. I was."

"You look happier now that you talked to her."

"I am. I always do though."

"I'm glad."

We stayed quiet like this for several minutes. We were holding each other looking over the pond waiting for him to catch a fish. He was about to say something when his fishing pole jerked.

"What do I do?"

"Jerk the pole back!"

"Now what?"

"Reel it in!"

"With this thing?"

"Yes!" I laughed and jumped up and down.

When he finally managed to get the fish out of the water I calmed him down enough to where I could grab the fish without him jerking it out of my hands every five seconds. I swore he looked like a five-year-old kid in a candy store.

"Mattie give me the pliers!"

"Here!" she yelled as she threw them at me. I grabbed the bottom of the fish's mouth to paralyze him so I could get the hook out of him. I grabbed the hook fairly easily. At least he jerked the pole back in time to where the fish hadn't swallowed it. That wouldn't have been a pretty sight.

"Do you want to take a picture with it?" I asked as soon as the hook was out.

"Yeah."

"Do you think that you can hold it without freaking out?"

"I'll try."

I handed him the fish placing his hands where mine were. When I removed my hand the fish jumped a little, and that seemed to startle him. He did better than I thought he would holding it. Alice got her camera out of her bag and moved to where we were standing.

"Edward, put the pole down and Bella stand closer to Edward. Edward, put your other arm around her shoulders and hold the fish in front of the both of you," Alice instructed. Edward and I did as we were told the only difference was that we angled ourselves towards each other. I was going to look at the camera, but I felt Edward looking at me. I stared back at him, and I guessed Alice took the picture because she said Edward could throw the fish back. She wouldn't let us see the picture, but promised us that we could later. I didn't know what she meant by that, but I didn't dwell on it.

"I think that I'm done fishing for now," Edward said. That fish must have worn him out. Not that he'd ever admit that.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright. What do you want to do?"

"Let's just sit and talk for a little bit."

He led me to the little square of concrete near the edge of the pond. I guessed he was giving everyone a subtle hint not to bother us which was totally fine by me.

"I seem to recall something about your non-existent love life."

Damn it! He didn't forget about that. I was hoping that he had since he didn't say anything last night. So much for wishful thinking.

"Oh. That."

"You make it seem like it's bad thing."

"It is a bad thing. Not to mention totally out of character for me."

"I can assure you that mine is much more worse than yours."  
"Oh that makes me feel _so_ much better," I muttered.

"We don't have to talk about it right now. As long as you tell me later."

"Thank god. I want to tell you. It's just that it's totally embarrassing on my part."

"Well then we should start with something easy. Like how did you and Mattie meet?"

"We met in the second grade."

"Wow. That's a long time ago.

"Yeah. We've known each other for eleven years and played softball together for nine."

"You play softball?"

"Yeah. I'm only playing one more tournament before I leave."

"Why?"

"I want to spend these last couple of months with everyone. And I made a deal with my coach. I would play one more time before I called it quits. We both have to agree on the tournament too. So whenever we're around each other all we do is argue over which one it'll be."

"Is that all you two argue about?"

"No. He says that I'm a vital part of the team and should play at least three more tournaments, but I'm putting my foot down on one. I think he's in denial over the fact that I'm leaving him."

"Have you decided what tournament you're going to play in?"

"Yes. But I'm not going to tell him just yet. I want to make him sweat a little bit more before I do."

"Why?"

"To make up for him being an ass."

"That's reasonable I guess. So which one are you playing in?"  
"I'm going to play nationals."

"Is it here in Oklahoma?"

"Yeah. It's at the Hall of Fame stadium."

All of a sudden I had an idea. It was really hot and there was a lot of water in front of me. I stood up, took my tank top, shorts, and shoes and sock off before yelling at Mattie.

"Hey Mattie! Want to go for a swim?"

I dove into the water before I heard her reply. The water felt extremely good in this blistering heat. When I resurfaced I saw Mattie taking her shoes off before diving in. Everyone looked at us as though we were crazy. Except for Edward. He looked a little bit shocked. Probably due to the fact that I basically stripped in front of him. I swam towards him and splashed him a little bit.

"Do you want to swim? The water feels _really_ good."

He seemed to jump back into reality because he started taking his wife beater off. He was working on taking his shorts off when Emmett did a cannonball. I wasn't even aware of him stripping. Told you how much I paid attention to the outside world when it came to Edward. I looked up at him and saw his upper body. He must have worked out a lot because he had pecs and a six pack. I was practically drooling that I had to mentally slap myself to make sure that I really wasn't. He dove in and swam up to me.

"You're right. It does feel good," he said.

"I know."

After ten minutes of trying to persuade the girls that the fish weren't going to touch them they stripped and dove in themselves. We all played around for about an hour before I decided that we should probably get out and dry off . I knew there were towels in Mattie's trunk, but the problem was trying to get to her car without giving anyone passing by a peep show.

"Mattie where are you car keys?" I asked.

"Why?"

"I bought a ton of towels and put them in your trunk."

"Why did you put them in my trunk?"

"How often do we do this?"

"Oh right. Here," she said tossing me the keys.

"Edward can you do me a _huge_ favor?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Go to Molly's car, pop her trunk, and get seven towels."

"Sure."

I made everyone get out of the pond as soon as he was back. I handed everyone a towel and grabbed one for myself. As soon as I was dry, I put my clothes back on and started packing up the gear. When all of it was put up I handed it to Emmett so he could put it in the bed of his truck. I checked my phone to see if the world loved me, but it didn't because there wasn't anything. I was putting my shoes back on when someone hugged me. I couldn't see who it was, but I didn't have to see to know that it was Mattie.  
"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to thank you."

"What for?"

"For giving me the best eleven years of my life."

"Mattie please do _not_ do this to me now."

"Well I have a feeling that you're not going to be around as much so I wanted to go ahead and say it now."

"Mattie. . . ."

"Please just let me finish."

"Fine."

"Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for giving me advice when I needed it the most. Thank you for laughing at me when I said that I was going to murder my family and then kill myself when my mom didn't wake us up in time for that one tournament. Thank you for laughing with me. Thank you for holding me when I needed someone to do it. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for being there when Tawny and I were fighting. Thank you for sticking up for me when I needed it. But most of all, thank you for being you. I don't know what I would've done without you."

I was almost in tears when she was done. _Almost_. I would've thanked her for sticking with me, but right now it was her moment. I didn't want to ruin it. I'd save my thanks for later.

"You would've cheated on your boyfriend," I joked. "Your welcome Mattie," I whispered. I turned around and hugged her very tightly. I was really going to miss her when I was gone.

"Go. They're waiting on you."

"Thanks for everything Mattie."

Together we walked towards them and parted ways. I let Edward drive back to his house because I was in too deep in thought to concentrate on driving. We dropped everyone off and decided to just drive around for a little bit. When we got hungry I decided that I would cook for him at my house instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money eating out. So we went to the store and I got some macaroni and cheese, wienies, and tomato sauce. I didn't feel like cooking anything elaborate so this would just have to do. Besides, it was quick and easy. After dinner we watched _Transformers_ before he had to leave. I didn't want to introduce him to my family just yet. After twenty minutes of trying to say good-bye I playfully kicked him out with a promise of texting or calling him before I went to bed.

I took a shower and got ready for bed before my mom and siblings made it home. So I postponed that conversation for a little while at least. I called Eric around 10:30 to tell him that I had to work the morning shift at the diner, and after that I was free for the rest of the day. We talked for about another hour before we said good night. I laid there thinking about everything that had happened over the past three days, and I realized that Mattie was right once again. I was different. A good different. With that in mind I fell into a deep sleep dreaming about Edward.

**I'm still not done posting! :) A few more left for tonight. And I am currently working on the newest chapter for this story. Please review. Because reviews are better than rainbows.**

** ~Fell Bell~**


	9. Chapter 9

**Soooo. I lied. This is my longest chapter. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own _Twilight._ Sob!**

Chapter 8

It had been two weeks since Edward and I had met, and I had yet to introduce him to my family. He was constantly bugging me about it too.

"Tell me again. Why haven't I met your family yet?" he asked for the billionth time.

"I'm telling you. You're going to going to go crazy and leave me once you do."

"I'm not going to leave you. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"You say that now."

"What can I do to make you believe me?"

I was going to be a smart-ass, but my phone rang preventing me from saying something that I would more than likely regret later.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello my little Bella Boo," the voice said.

"Hey Coach, what's up?"

"Have you decided yet?"

"Yes."

"What tournament are you playing in?"

"Nationals."

"Your lucky."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's a week before you have to leave."

"I know. And it's in the city so I don't have to worry about going far."

"But that's a long time away. I need you in some up-coming tournaments."

"Nope. One more. That's all I'm doing. We've been through this argument already."

"But-"

"No buts. I'm only playing one more and that's final."

"Fine. I'm going to get you to change your mind eventually."

"No you're not. I have to go so I'll argue with you later."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and threw my phone down on the floor. I was extremely tired of all of these arguments with everyone. I was so tired of everyone going against my decisions. I was constantly arguing with somebody over something that I deemed important, but they didn't. It was pissing me off.

Edward wiggled his way behind me and rested his chin on my shoulder. It was very quiet at his house. We were the only ones here which was odd because there was always someone else besides us here. Emmett and Rose were on a date, and Jasper and Alice were shopping. I felt very bad for Jasper right now, but he didn't seem to mind as long as Alice was happy. Carlisle and Esme were out doing things they do without kids. So it was just Edward and me sitting on the couch talking.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"No you're not."

"Then why did you ask?"

"To see if you would tell me or if I would have to guess."

"I'm just tired. That's all."

"Let's take a nap then."

"I'm not just sleepy tired Edward. I'm life tired. I'm so sick and tired of people trying to tell me how to run my life. Everything I say or do pisses someone off. I'm tired of trying to make everyone happy. I want to make me happy. But I can't do that when the world is pissed at me."

"Then take a break."

"It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"I can't just up and leave everyone right now. I still have tons of work to do before I leave."

"I'm not saying you should quit your jobs and leave town. All I'm suggesting is that you take a few days off work and stay here for awhile."

"As much as I would love to do that I can't."

"Why not?"

"It's just . . . complicated."

"It was only a suggestion. You can do something else."

"Well what am I supposed to do Edward?"

"I don't know."

"I'm sorry. I'm just really irritated right now."

"I know. Only a month and a half left before we leave."

"That is one of two reasons why I haven't gone crazy yet."

"What's the other reason?"

"You."

"I need to meet your family before we go."

"I know. You can meet them at Alex's birthday party."  
"You think that's a good idea?"

"It's the only way that you'll be able to meet everyone at once without having to go all over town."

"Alright."

He sounded nervous which I thought was hilarious. I guess I would be too if I were in his shoes. He had to meet a whole bus load of people that I called family while I only had to meet a handful.

"Don't tell me you're scared now," I said teasingly.

"I'm not scared."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm nervous."

"I would be too if I were you."

"Why weren't you nervous when you met my family?"

"I was a little bit, but I didn't let it show. I was, however, _very_ self-conscious."

"Why?"

"Did you notice what I was wearing?"

"I loved what you were wearing."

"You would. But that's besides the point."

"Do I _have_ to meet them all at once?"

"Yes."

"_Why_?"

"I just want to get everything out of the way. Besides, it'll be easier."

"Easier for you."

"Would you rather have them ask you the same questions over and over?

"No, not really."

"Then shut up."

"Fine."

I got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. I didn't know that Edward was following me. That was until threw me over his shoulder. I wasn't prepared for that so I screamed like a little bitch. He laughed and continued walking to the kitchen.

"Put me down!"

"Let me think about that. No."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're an asshole?"

"That really hurt my feelings," he said faking hurt and setting me down on the counter.

"Oh, please."

He set me on the counter then walked to the fridge and got the Dr. Pepper. I turned around and got two cups out of the cabinet. He took the glasses from me while I just stared at him. I found myself doing that a lot. I guess I had to make sure that he wasn't going to disappear.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

He handed me a cup and hopped up on the counter beside me. I leaned my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around me. We sat there in a comfortable silence with him occasionally kissing the top of my head.

"When's your brother's birthday?"

"The twenty-sixth."

"So next week."

"Yeah."

He jumped down when he finished his drink and held a hand out to me.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

I took his hand and hopped down. He led me upstairs to the third floor. I hadn't been up here, but I did know that the library and his room were on it. We passed the library, but the door was open so I got to see what it looked like. The walls were beige and the carpet was light brown. There was a tall book shelf in between two windows on the left wall. On the wall in front of me were, instead of a wall, glass windows, a tan recliner, love seat, and a cherry wood computer desk. Covering the entire right side of the door and the right wall were book shelves. The room itself was very warm and cozy. And it had a _lot_ of books. More books than any school library I had ever seen. Where did they get this many books? I loved to read. So seeing this many books made me feel like I had died and gone to heaven. I knew where I was going to be ninety-five percent of the time I was here.

I hadn't noticed that I stopped walking until Edward hugged me from behind.

"I take it you like to read," he chuckled.

"Yeah. Edward, this is amazing. I've never seen so many books."

"When my great-grandfather built this house he added this library for my great-grandmother. She loved to read. She just loved books in general. Whenever she came across a book, it didn't matter what is was about, she bought it and put it in here. There are so many different types of books in here. When my grandmother was sixteen her mother gave the library to her. It's basically been passed down to the oldest girl in the family on her sixteenth birthday. When it was given to my mother she practically lived in here. That's why it looks the way it does. She was going to give it to Alice, but she didn't want it. She said she was too busy to even think about sitting down to read. But I know she doesn't like to read anything that's not a magazine. Then my mother decided to give it to Rosalie even though she's not her biological daughter. But Rose didn't accept it saying that she wouldn't be able to take care of it the way my mother did. Again, I know the real reason. She doesn't read anything that's not a fashion or car magazine. I don't think either one of those girls even stepped a foot in this room. And so my mother is still waiting to give this library to someone."

I didn't say anything after he was done talking. I was still trying to absorb all of the books and the history of the library. I felt sorry for Esme because no one wanted it. If I were Alice or Rose I would've accepted it and taken care of it even though I didn't want it. Did they not realize how important the library was to her? She must have been disappointed when they refused it. I was jealous that it was even offered to them.

"Why doesn't she give it to one of you boys?" I asked turning around.

"She wants to stick to at least the girl part of the tradition."

He took my hand again and led me down the hall.

"Even though you seemed to enjoy the library that wasn't what I was going to show you."

"Really? What were you going to show me?"

He stopped in front of another door and turned around. He pulled me closer to him and bent his head. I knew he was going to kiss me, but he was going too slow for my liking. So I stepped on my tippy toes and crushed my lips to his. This seemed to amuse him because when he pulled back he laughed. Jerk.

"This is my room."

He kissed me again and pulled me even closer than I already was. Not that I was complaining, but he peaked my curiosity. I wanted to see what _the_ Edward Cullen's room looked like.

"Are you going to show me your room or not?" I asked pulling away.

"Eventually."

He went to kiss me again, but I wiggled out of his grasp and pushed him out of the way.

"You didn't have to push me," he whined.

"Would you have showed me if I hadn't?"

"No, probably not."

"Then yes, I did have to push you. So quit your whining."

He opened the door and let me walk in first. As with the library I was completely speechless. Unlike Alice's room, Edward's had white carpet whereas her's was €green. His room was so light. It matched him perfectly. The walls were the same white-blue as the outside of the house. I think it was the only room in the house with the same color. To my left there was a shelf full of movies, cds, and (oh, what do you know) more books. I took it he liked to read too. On the left wall there was his king-sized bed and two night stands on each side. The bed looked _really_ soft. Even from all the way over here. And his navy blue satin bed set looked very inviting right now. To the wall in front of me was a flat screen television, a bathroom, and walk-in closet. There was a window separating the bathroom and closet. On the right wall there were french doors leading to the balcony and windows on either side. What surprised me was how girly the curtains were. They were white see-through lace with swirly patterns on them. I really hoped those weren't his idea. If they were then I'd be forced to make fun of him. To the right of the door was his computer desk. Even though the curtains were a bit on the girlish side the room was still beautiful. His room was very neat and very. . . him. That was the only way that I can describe it. It was him.

"What do you think?"

"It's very . . ."

"What?"

"You."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"Good. Definitely good."

"Good."

"Although, the curtains. . . ."

"Mom and Alice redesigned the room."

"Why?"

"This was my great-grandparent's room. Hence why my room is the only one to have a balcony."

"I'm not going lie. That's kind of creepy."

"Yeah it is. Which is why I'm the one stuck with it. It took me awhile to get used to it. Now it doesn't bother me anymore."

"Why didn't your parents take it?"

"The room they have is the one Mom had since she was born. They just remodeled it. In fact they remodeled the entire house. Which is why we all have full bathrooms and walk-in closets."

"That makes sense."

I laughed and walked towards the shelf. There were a lot of books, cds, and movies. I knew most of the movies, but there were a few that I had never heard of. It was the same with the books and cds. I was surprised that he had several _Metallica_ cds.

I couldn't take it anymore. The bed was just too distracting. I was only half listening to what Eric was saying which means I was _really_ distracted for that to happen. I ran to the bed and just flopped on it. Eric laughed at me, and had it been any other day I would've been annoyed. But I was too tired to even think about caring. He laid down beside me and started rubbing my back. That felt amazing.

"Tired?"

"Yes."

"What time did you get up this morning?"

"Four."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I'm the only one Lee trusts to open the diner."

"What's he gonna do when you leave?"

"I'm training Trevor, but I doubt he'll open. So I think that Lee is going to do it himself."

"When's your last day?"

"July eighteenth."

"What about Subway?"

"What about it?"

"When's your last day there?"

"The day after Alex's birthday."

"Why so soon?"

"Thomas has more than enough people. Technically he doesn't even need me right now. I could tell him that I want to be done earlier if I wanted to."

"Then why don't you?"

"I don't know. I guess I just want to do as much as I can before I leave."

"Well, you only have one week left."

"Yeah. Then I'll have Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays off every week."

"That's good."

I yawned and was so comfortable that my eyes started to close. I would've fallen asleep if Edward hadn't got up and slapped my ass.

"What are you doing?" I whined.

"Get up."

"_Why_?"

"I got to fix the bed if we're going to go to sleep."

As soon as those words left his mouth I was up.

"Excited to take naps I see."

"Naps are the next best thing."

"What's the best thing?"

"Sleeping all night and half the next day."

He laughed and pulled the covers back. He moved out of the way so I could jump on the bed. He climbed in after me and pulled me to where my back was against his chest. I was almost asleep when the sun decided to shine on my face. I opened my eyes and made an embarrassing grunting sound.

"Ugh."

"What?"

"Stupid sun."

"Hold on. I can fix that."

"How? You have white curtains. And you can see through them."

"Watch."

He turned to the nightstand and pushed a little button on the wall that I hadn't noticed before. All of a sudden steel walls the size of all of the windows covered them making it pitch black in his room. I was instantly reminded of _The Holiday_. Figures. He would have those.

"Very original," I said.

"Hey. It wasn't my idea."

"Uh-huh."

He pulled me back to him and squeezed me. I felt whole laying here in his arms. It was like we fit perfectly together like puzzle pieces. This was the first time that I have ever slept beside someone that wasn't my family or friends. I am not counting that time with Weston. I didn't remember that so I say it didn't count. Speaking of Weston, I was going to have to tell Edward about that sooner or later. Something that I was not looking forward to, but he had been patient with me.

I was faintly aware of soft snoring. I guessed I'd been lying here thinking longer than I thought. I turned around so that I was facing him. That tiny movement woke him up. He must be a light sleeper.

"What's wrong?" he whispered.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep."

"Something is wrong. When you scrunch your left eyebrow it means either something is bothering you or you're thinking hard about something."

"We can talk about it when we wake up."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. As soon as we wake up. I promise."

"Okay."

He gave me a soft kiss before closing his eyes again. I stared at him for several more minutes before I closed mine. All I could think about before I drifted off was that he was perfect. Perfect enough for me anyway. I just hoped I was at least good enough for him.

One minute I was dreaming about Edward, me, and a waterfall and then next I was being jerked all over the place. This pissed me off because whoever, or whatever, it was woke me up. I sat up only to see Alice jumping on the bed, and everyone else, excluding Carlisle, standing in the doorway. What was it with this family? Did they take field trips to the bathroom? _Bella, be nice. Your family is just as weird. Besides, your family actually does take field trips to the bathroom._ All I knew was that I saw a pillow fly by my head and hit Alice in hers. She lost her balance and fell off of the bed. I would've laughed had I not been extremely pissed off.

"What the hell was that for?" Alice screamed.

"You woke us up you little shit!" Edward yelled.

I just laid back down hoping that this was all a dream and that I was still sleeping. No such luck. I opened my eyes to see that the whole family was sitting on the bed. Edward was sitting up to so I just leaned on his back hoping to find out why Alice decided to wake us up.

"Can someone please explain to us why the rude awakening?" I asked.

"We tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen," Esme said.

"Alice?" I asked.

"It was payback."

"For what?"

"Edward dumped water on me the other day."

I almost laughed. Almost. Because that was hilarious. Alice was bugging me about why I had never been to a spa. I didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her to shut the fuck up so I just kept giving her short answers. Apparently Edward saw that I was in dire need of help, and when he walked by he dumped his glass of water on her head. It was so funny that I fell out of my chair because I was laughing so hard.

"If you were getting back at him then why did you wake me up?" I asked.

"You laughed at me."

"I helped you dry off!"

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"It's alright. I'm already awake."

"Get out!" Eric barked at everyone.

"Hey. Calm down," I whispered in his ear as they left.

"I'm sorry. I have a bit of a temper."

"It's alright. I have a temper too. I just seem to have more patience than you do."

"Yeah. You do."

We laid back down. Only this time, I was laying on his chest.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"6:30."

We slept for four and a half hours. Longer than my usual nap. I normally slept for two. I must have been very comfortable.

"Hey, was there something you wanted to talk about earlier?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. Remember my non-existent love life?"

"Yeah."

"Well . . . it really isn't non-existent. It's more like one person."

"Is that all?"

"Yeah. And the sad thing about it is that I can't even remember anything."

"How can you not remember it?"

"I went to a party to keep an eye on Mattie and Tawny. I only went because they said that they had no way home and had to be back at Mattie's house before midnight. I would've just made them call me, but I was afraid that they would lose track of time or not call at all. I was only drinking water because I had to drive. I set my bottle down next to me for a second to check my phone for any messages. When I looked up I saw someone hitting on Mattie who wasn't Jake, her boyfriend. She was getting a little too friendly, and being the wonderful friend that I was I stopped her from potentially cheating on her boyfriend. When I returned to the table to get my water, Weston was holding the bottle. I wasn't thinking at all and took it when he handed it back to me. I was surprised that he was talking to me and not partying with his friends like he normally would have. Sure we've talked before, but in better conditions. As we continued on whatever conversation we were having I started feeling a little strange. I realized only too late that he had spiked my water. The next thing I knew the sun was beating down on my face, and it felt like I was run over by a train. I noticed that I was laying in a bed with a body next to me. I looked down to see that I was naked and the person next to me was too. It only took me a couple of seconds to figure out what had happened. I got up, got dressed, and as I was leaving I saw that the person was none other than Weston himself. He tried talking to me after that, but I gave him a new asshole and haven't talked to him since."

Eric was very quiet and very still. I sat up only to see his jaw locked and his eyes squeezed shut. He was breathing hard, but was trying to even it out.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Something is obviously wrong when you're seething like this."

"Do you realize something bad could've happened to you?"

"Yes. I'm grateful that it was the only thing that happened."

"You're grateful? How can you be grateful? You were raped!"

"No, I wasn't."

"What do you mean?"

"That day I asked Mattie and Tawny if they knew what happened. Apparently they only had a couple of drinks because they were too busy trying to get me to "lighten up". They said I was as much of a participant as he was."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better."

"Hey! You don't see me getting mad over your many "conquests"!"

"You should be mad at me."

"But I'm not."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't matter to me. The only thing that actually matters is that you're with me now."

"You are too good to me."

I could say the same thing about him. He pulled me down to him and kissed me. He rolled us over to where he was on top of me and moved his hand down my side. He started tickling me and I tried to get him to stop, but he pinned my arms above my head with one of his hands. He was very strong if he could do that with me thrashing all over the place.

"No! Please stop!" I shouted laughing.

"Say you'll be mad at me."

"Okay! Okay! I'll be mad at you!"

He stopped tickling me, but kept my arms above my head.

"Good," he whispered before he kissed me again. He ran his tongue over my bottom lip seeking permission to go further. I was all for it, but Alice and Emmett barged through the door wrecking the moment.

"Dinner's ready!" they shouted.

"Damn it! Don't you guys know how to knock?" Edward yelled.

"Yes, but I don't like to. Besides, it's fun to piss you off," Emmett said.

"What if you came in here and we were both naked," I suggested.

"Uh. . ."

"Exactly."

"It doesn't matter because you're not naked and dinner's ready," Alice said laying down next to me. Emmett didn't even bother going around. He just climbed over all three of us.

"If dinner's done why are you two still in here?" Edward asked.

"It sounded like you guys were having fun," Emmett said.

'We were. Then you barged in and ruined it," he retorted.

"Be nice," I said to Edward.

"You want me to be nice when they interrupted us?"

"Don't yell at me! I'm trying to tell you why you should be nice damn it!"

"I'm sorry. Please tell me why I should be nice."

"Being rude is only going to make it worse. They know it's bugging you. So they're going to keep doing it."

"I hate it when you're right."

"It's a gift.'

I gave him a chaste kiss which turned out to be quite difficult since my arms were still pinned above my head.

"Alright guys. Get out and we'll be down in a couple of minutes."

"Fine," they grumbled.

"How do you do that?" Eric asked as soon as they gone.

"Do what?"

"Get them to listen to you."

"I have an authoritative voice."

"Teach me that voice."

"It's not something I can teach you."

"Why not?"

"You have to learn it by yourself."

"How do I do that?"

"Become a daddy."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Well, come on Mommy. Let's get started."

"As much fun as that sounds we can't start making babies now."

"And why not?"

"They'll just barge in the room again. And I'm hungry."

"Fine. We'll take a rain check."

"Oh, you sound so disappointed."

"I am."

"Come on. I don't think I can deny my stomach any longer."

"I swear you are just as bad as Emmett."

"I am not!"

"Let's go."

"I'm going to get you back for that."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Don't test me buddy."

We went downstairs and as soon as we stepped off the last step I jumped on Edward's back.

"Is this your idea of payback?"

"Not even close."

"Sorry I'm late. I lost track of time," Carlisle said as he walked through the front door. He saw me and smiled. "Hello Bella. Joining us for dinner again?"

"If you don't mind."

"Of course not. You're welcome anytime."

"Thanks."

He walked into the kitchen to help Esme with whatever she needed.

"Why do you get so tense every time my dad comes around?" Edward asked before he set me on the ground.

"I do?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. I didn't even notice."

"Do you know why?"

"I have an idea."

"Why don't you tell me then."  
"I will after dinner."

"Okay."

We walked hand-in-hand into the kitchen, but stopped when we noticed everyone staring at us.

"What?" Edward asked.

"Nothing," they mumbled then went back to whatever they were doing. Why was everyone doing that? It's starting to get really annoying.

After dinner Edward took us back to his room. I knew what I was going to tell him, but that doesn't make it any easier. He sat down on the bed, but I stayed standing. I was too nervous and fidgety to sit down.

"How much have I told you about my dad?" I asked.

"Um . . . He was nineteen when you were born. He lives in Mangum, and your parent divorced when you were three."

"That's all?"

"Yeah."

"Well, shit. Okay, when I was five my sister and I moved in with my mom in McKenzie, Tennessee. I hardly saw my dad after that. It's not like I saw him as much when we lived in the same town anyway. But that's besides the point. About two years later we moved here. I saw him a little more often, but not as much as I would've liked. The only time he was ever willing and asking me to come down was when his wife wanted to play mommy. When I wanted to go I practically had to beg him. After a while I just stopped asking. When I was in the sixth grade he started to get more involved in my life. I thought he actually started to care, but I was wrong. I found out that he was doing it because I could take care of Brittney and myself without him having to be there. His bitch of a wife just wanted to play mommy again. I got really angry with him, but I didn't say anything because Brittney still believed that he was the caring, loving father she wanted him to be. So I kept my mouth shut. I was sixteen when I couldn't take it anymore. We were down there for two weeks during our summer break. Brittney was with Mindy, and I was glad she was because I didn't want her to hear what I was going to say to him. He had just gotten home from work when I started yelling at him. I told him that he was a horrible father who tried to win me over by buying me useless things. He yelled back saying that I was an ungrateful little shit, and that I was irresponsible and disrespectful. I was always taking advantage of him and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't even be here. I gave him that one because it's true. I yelled at him some more, called him names that I would never repeat in front of my mother, packed my shit, and left. I told him to tell Brittney to call me when she was ready to come home. I haven't seen him since that Christmas, and that was a total disaster. We were screaming down each other's throats the entire time I was there. He calls me every once in awhile, but we just end up yelling at one another. Although we made a deal that last time he called. I agreed to go down there for one week before I leave. I'm definitely not looking forward to that. But you asked me why I flinched every time your dad comes near me. I flinch because I'm waiting for him to yell at me and say the same things my father said. It's not just your dad. It's every dad. That stupid son of a bitch ruined all father figures for me. I'm afraid that I'll end up with someone like him. Or end up like him myself. And every time I see you and your dad together I get jealous. "

I finally looked at him to see his reaction after several minutes. He was too quiet. Even after I told him about Weston he wasn't this quiet. He stood up and walked over to me. He pulled me to him and and hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Don't apologize for that bastard."

"I'm not."

"Good."

"Come on. I have to get you home."

"Ew."

"I know."

"I don't want to leave."

"I don't want you to leave."

"Then I'm not leaving."

My phone chose that exact moment to vibrate in my back pocket.

_I need you home now. Brittney's at a friend's house and I just got called in._

_ ^Mom^_

"But it seems the world has different ideas," I sighed.

"What now?" he asked annoyed.

"My sister's staying at a friend's house and my mom got called in to work. So I have to go home and watch my brothers."

"How lovely."

"I know. I swear they are all conspiring against me. They've managed to come up with an excuse to get me home every time I come over here."

"They probably don't like me."

"They don't even know you."

"Maybe that's why."

"If it is then I'm going to kick their asses."

"Only one more week then hopefully they won't do this anymore."

"I sure hope so."

We left his house and stayed in his car talking about what ever came to our minds. I kissed him goodbye and he promised that he would call me before he went to bed. He waited until I was in the house before he left.

"It's about time!" Mom yelled.

"Calm down."

"I'm late."

"How can you be late when they called you in?"

"Uh. . ."

"Quit trying to make me feel guilty."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"I need to go."

"Have they eaten?"

"No."

"Alright. You're going to meet him at Alex's birthday party."

"Really?"

"Yes. So you can stop texting me at the same time every time I go over there."

"I'm not doing anything."

"Whatever," I muttered. After she left I took the boys to McDonalds so they could eat. When we got home we watched Power Rangers for two and a half hours before they finally fell asleep. I took them to my room and put them in my bed. When I laid down Alex rolled on top of me. I was almost asleep when my phone vibrated from under my pillow. That was really starting to annoy me.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey," the voice said. I immediately smiled. It was an involuntary reaction I had whenever I heard his voice.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just laying in bed. You?"

"Pretty much the same thing you are. The only difference is that I have a little body laying on top of me."

"What?"

"It's my brother."

"Oh. What's he doing on top of you?"

"Sleeping."

"That's not fair."

"Why isn't it fair?"

"He's in my spot."

''Oh, hush. He started out beside me, but after a few minutes he rolled on me."

"Nice."

"I know. He doesn't even need a blanket. He gets too hot if he sleeps with one."

"What if he gets cold?"

"That's what I'm for. I keep him warm."

"Are you going to miss the boys?"

"Yeah. I'm going to miss them more than anyone else."

"Who else are you going to miss?"

"Besides my close friends and family?"

"Yeah."

"No one. I can't wait to get out of here. I am sick and tired of this place."

"Why?"

"I need something new. This place and these people are really pissing me off. I just can't stand it anymore."

"I've never felt like that before."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Never?"

"Nope."

"Wow. Why?"

"I've never really associated with people outside of my family. I've never felt the need to. Sure we were all popular, but I've never fully acted on it. I mean I dated in high school, but that's about it. I was nice to whoever talked to me, but I never threw myself out there for people to come near me. And I never felt the need to change it."

"Well, I wasn't the most popular kid, but that didn't stop people from talking to me. I was the one who preferred reading instead of talking. But people would not leave me the hell alone."

"Why don't you like people to bother you? I didn't mind someone talking to me."

"I don't like mindless chatter. I want to get straight to the point. I didn't have anything to say to those people. For example, if I didn't like you I would say it to your face before you even uttered a word to me."

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"No. That was just an example. I do like you. I was just trying to get my point across."

"Are you sure there wasn't some underlying message in that?"

"Positive."

"Okay. I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience to you or something if there was."

"The only inconvenience right now is me at my house and you at yours."

"You're right. That is inconvenience."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?"

"What time is it?"

What kind of question was that? What was he doing? Was he moving around? What was that rustling noise?

"It's 10:30."

"What time does your mom get home?"

"Eight."

"Perfect."

"What are you doing?"

"It's a surprise. I'll call you in about fifteen minutes."

"Fine."

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"It'll be worth it. I promise."

"Alright."

"Bye."

"Bye."

What the hell was he going to do? He better not do anything stupid and get his ass in trouble. If he called me to bail him out because he was an idiot I sure as hell was not doing it. I would not be a happy camper if I had to wake the boys up. And I had to work at Subway in the morning. Only one more week and I was done with getting up every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I couldn't wait.

I had to roll Alex off of me because he was starting to sweat bullets. This was the normal routine when he slept with me. He'd get too cold and roll on me. Then he'd get too hot and roll off of me. The next thing I knew my phone vibrated and someone knocked on the door. It scared the shit out of me. I almost screamed, but I would've woken the boys up.

"Hello?" I asked my voice trembling.

"What's wrong? You sound scared," the voice said.

"I wasn't expecting anyone to knock on my door and my phone to vibrate at the same time."

"Are you going to answer the door?"

"I swear if it's the neighbor saying the squirrels are conspiring against her again I'm going to be pissed _off_."

I opened the door to see Edward standing there with his phone to his ear.

"What are you doing here?"

I realized I still had my phone talking to him and to his face. I felt stupid so I slammed my phone shut and threw it on the couch.

"Well, that wasn't very nice. You hung up on me."

"You're standing right in front of me. So it doesn't count as being rude."

"Are you going to let me in?'

"I shouldn't since you scared me half to death."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. But don't do that again. I may not be so forgiving next time."

I let him in and he went to go sit on the couch.

"Are you going to join me or are you going to stand there all night?"

I shut the door and sat down in his lap.

"You never answered my question."

"And what was that?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Do you not want me here?"

"I do want you here. I just want to know why you decided to come."

"I wanted to see you. Is that a good enough reason to come?"

"It's more than enough. You can come see me whenever you want."

"You're going to get sick of seeing me then."

"I highly doubt that. When do you have to leave?"

"Anytime before 7:30. I don't want to risk your mom seeing me here. I want her to like me. Not give her anymore reason to hate me."

"She won't hate you. She may not like you, but she won't hate you."

"Well, that makes me feel _so_ much better."

"I can almost assure you that she won't like you at first. You're going to have to make her like you. That's how I normally am, but you didn't have to do that."

"How did I make you like me so quickly?"

"It was your eyes."

"So it wasn't my majorly good looks?" he joked. I playfully elbowed him in his gut.

"Damn. You caught me."

"I can't tell you how many girls wanted me because of my looks and money."

"Conceited much?'

"I'm not conceited. It's true. I honestly hate girls like that."

"How do you know I'm not like that?"

"That's like saying centaurs and unicorns are real."

That brought up an old memory. Mattie's mom asked if they were real. I wanted to laugh, but this was a serious heart-felt moment and I didn't want to ruin it.

"What did you think about me when we first met?" I asked.

"I thought about of a lot of things."

"I want to know."

"Okay. I saw you before you saw me."

"You did?"

"Yes. I saw you getting out of your car. I also noticed you were thinking about something because your left eyebrow was furrowed."

"How-"

"You do it all the time."

"Oh."

"The first thing that came to my mind was that you were beautiful. The second thing was what were you thinking to make you so serious. I knew you were going to fall because you didn't step over the rug high enough. Your shoe got caught. When you looked up after I caught you I was lost in your eyes. They were a greenish-brown color. I had never seen anyone with eyes like yours. Did you know your eyes are a dark, dark green when you wake up?"

"Yes."

"And they're a light brown when you're happy."

"Yes, I know. So will you just get on with it?"

"Sorry. Anyway, you looked like you were confused which made sense because you were expecting to hit the floor. I let you catch up with the rest of the world while I noticed how soft you felt."

"You and everyone else," I muttered.

"What?"

"Everyone tells me that."

"And how would they know that?"

"Think about it. There's kids that lay on me, people hug me, -"

"Okay, I get it. Sorry. I just got a little. . ."

"Jealous?"

"No."

"Yes."

"Fine. So I got jealous. Sue me."

"Edward!"

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You can stop now. I get the gist of what was going through your head."

"You sure? I can keep going if you want."

"I'm sure. You can stop."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"You're acting like it."

"I'm sorry. I'm just sleepy."

"How can you be tired? We slept for almost four hours!"

"It's possible. Trust me."

"Do you have to work in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Subway?"

"Yes."

"Ten to four?"

"Uh-huh."

"Alex and Gabe still sleeping in your bed?"

"Yeah."

"Will they wake up in the middle of the night?"  
"No."

"Will you be comfortable sleeping on the couch with me?"  
"Yes. I'll go get a pillow and blanket."

"Okay."

"Do you need me to wake you up in the morning?"

"What time are you getting up?"

"Seven."

"Why so early?"

"I take a shower before I go to work."

"Wake me up before you get in the shower."

"Will do."

I thought the two of us sleeping on the couch wouldn't be comfortable, but it was. It wasn't like sleeping in Edward's bed, but it was just as good. I thought it was because he was with me. I set an alarm on my phone for 6:55 just in case Mom came home early. After I put my phone under my pillow, I kissed Edward then immediately fell asleep. I didn't hear anything for the rest of the night. That was until I was jerked and fell on the floor.

I looked up trying to figure out what woke me up. And when I did I immediately regretted it. Why didn't my alarm go off? Or did it and I didn't feel it? Or was she home earlier than I anticipated? That had to be it. It was only 2:30 in the morning. This could not be happening. I must have done something to piss off God again. But I didn't do anything bad this time. I promise. Well, at least I don't think I did.

Somewhere between me being jerked and falling on the floor Edward woke up. His face was exactly how I was feeling. I could practically see the same questions I had going through his head. Why was my mom home so early?

**I have one more chapter to post after this one. I am going to start writing the new chapter as soon as possible. Please review!**

** ~Fell Bell~**


	10. Chapter 10

**Last chapter I'm posting tonight! I gave you guys five whole chapters. That's a lot. Hopefull it won't take as long as it did last time to update. Hopefully.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own _Twilight._**

Chapter 9

"Hi Mom. What are you doing home?"

"There were more nurses than patients. But that's not important. What is going on here?"

"Well, um. . . You see it's-"

"We couldn't sleep. So I thought I would come over here and keep her company. We were laying here talking when we fell asleep," Edward explained.

"Where are your brothers?"

"In my bed sleeping."

"Alright."

I couldn't speak. I couldn't even think. I was expecting her to yell. She seemed to be completely okay about this. I stared at her for what had to be five minutes before my brain registered what she had said.

"So, you're okay with this?" I asked.

"Was this the first time?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's okay. I knew you two would do this sooner or later. But let me know the next time you guys do this. I wouldn't want to hit him thinking he's a burglar or something."

"Okay. Well, I need to go back to sleep. I have to work in the morning."

"Do you want me to move the boys so you can have your bed back?"

I looked at Edward to see if he thought that was okay. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a look that said he didn't care.

"That's fine."

She hopped in the shower after she moved the boys in her room. Edward and I were laying in my bed still wondering when my mom was going to change her mind and yell at us.

"Well, that was. . ."

"Interesting," I finished.

"Definitely. How did she know we were going to do this?"

"I don't know."

"I wonder why she wasn't mad."

"I think that if this happened a few years ago she would be."

"Maybe it's because you're eighteen."

"Please. I could be eighty and my mother would still beat me."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"It's almost four. Time to go back to sleep."

"Good idea."

I re-set my alarm for 7:30 and quickly fell asleep.

I woke up to my alarm going off. I was so tired I couldn't even move. It didn't help that Edward's arm was weighing me down either. Maybe I should call in sick or something because I knew that I would not be able to focus on anything today.

"Good morning," Edward whispered.

"Mornin'. I'm thinking about calling in today."

"Sounds good to me."

"This is the first time I've ever called in."

"Why?"

"I've never had an incentive."

"This incentive is a bad influence then."

"Depends on how you look at it."

"What is this bad incentive?"

"You."

"I think I should go if I'm such a bad influence on you."

"I will kick your ass if you do."

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

"Have you ever seen me angry?"

"No."

"You don't want to."

"Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome."

I probably better call Thomas now that way he wouldn't be calling me in a couple of hours.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Thomas, it's Bella."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. It's just that I don't feel so great today."

"Oh, okay. You know what. I think I'll let you be finished. You've been so great these past three years that I'm just going to go ahead and let you go. I know you have a lot left to do. So this is something I can do to lighten the load."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay. Well, thank you so much."

"It's no problem. I'll see you around Bella."

"Bye," I said as I hung up. "Well, that went easier than I expected. I thought he would be at least a little mad."

"What did he say?" Eric asked.

"I'm done working for him."

"Did he fire you?"

"No. He said I could be done early. He said he knew that I had a lot of work left to do and he wanted to lighten my load."

"Well, that was nice of him."

"Yeah. It was."

"What do you want to do now?"

"It's not even eight yet. I vote we go back to sleep."

"Sounds good."

"Edward, does your family know you're here?"

"Yes. I didn't actually tell them where I was going, but they knew before I even left."

"How many people do you know around here besides me?"

"Oh."

"It would be kind of obvious as to where you're going."

"I see your point. But I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep."

"Me too. You know, when I'm president getting up this early is going to be illegal."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Have you ever done this?"

"Done what?"

"Just lay here and talk about random stuff."

"No, I haven't."

"Why?"

"I've never actually liked the girls I dated."

"Then why did you date them?"

"To keep Emmett from calling me gay."

"Well, that's one way to do it I guess."

"It was the only way."

"You could've picked better girls."

"I did pick one."

"And who was that?"

"You."

"Who?"

"You."

"What makes me better than them? If anything they're better than me."

"No, they are not. And I don't want you to say that ever again. I'll tell you what makes you way better than them."

"Enlighten me."

"You're not vain. You care about others. You take care of your family instead of going out. You're trying to pay for college without anyone's help. And you don't let what other people say to you or about you get to you."

"What were those other girls like?"

"They were very full of themselves. Whoever I was dating at the time automatically felt like they were better than everyone else. Instead of focusing some-what on school they focused on their social lives. Their daddies were paying for college. And they were the worst about judging people."

"Sounds like most girls I know."

"Why are girls like that?"

"Girls are bitches. Always have been. Always will be."

"But your not like other girls."

"I'm not like other girls because I hate girls. To tell you the truth, I could not be a lesbian."

"Well, at least I know you won't leave me for a girl," he laughed.

"Are you scared of me leaving you?" I asked as he calmed down.

"Yes."

"You shouldn't be."

"Why?"

"Because you're going to be the one to leave me."

"I'm not going to leave you. I'd be a fucking idiot if I even though about leaving you."

I wanted to believe him. But I knew I was going to be the one to make him do it. I just knew it. I looked up at him to see that he had fallen asleep. I guessed I'd been thinking longer than I thought. He looked so peaceful that I couldn't help but smile. I really didn't want to push him away. I was going to try to open up to him. This was going to be the hardest thing that I would probably ever do. He'd been so wonderful to me these past couple of weeks. He deserved to know exactly how I felt. No matter how confused I was right now. I needed to go to sleep. I'd been up way too long for my liking.

I buried my head in Edward's chest. This was all I had ever asked for. I just wanted to be held. I really hoped I didn't screw this up. Before I knew it I had fallen asleep with a smile on my face.

"Bella! Bella! Wake up! You're late for work!"

Why couldn't I ever wake up on my own. Was that too much to ask? And when had I ever been late for work?

"I'm not late. Thomas let me finish early," I mumbled and moaned.

"Did you speak English just then?" Mom asked.

"I said that Thomas let me finish early!"

"Okay. Are you doing anything later today?"

"Other than sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"Don't know. Why?"

"I was going to tell you this after you got off work, but I need you to watch the kids."

"Who all am I watching?"

"Madison, Nate, Lizzy, and Alex, Gabe, and Robby."

"Why am I watching them?"

"All of us adults are going out."

"Fine. What time?"

"Four to . . . I don't know."

"Why don't they just stay the night then?"

"That's a good idea. I'll call you later."

"Okay."

"Well I think it's safe to say you can't do anything tonight," Edward said as my mom left.

"They don't even ask me. They just automatically assume that I'm going to do it. It doesn't matter if I have plans or not."

"Are you the only one that watches them?"

"I'm the only one who actually watches them. Brittney, Austin, and Ryan don't pay attention to what the kids are doing."

"What are they going to do once you're gone?"

"I don't know."

"What time is it?"

"10:30."

"Ew."

"I know."

"I'm wide awake."

"Me too. What do you want to do?"

"We could go to my house."

"Sounds good. We can go after my mom leaves."

"Okay. So, we've been together for almost three weeks now."

"Are you counting the first couple of days?"

"Yes."

"Okay," I laughed.

"Does it feel longer to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does it feel like we've been together longer?"

"It does feel longer."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"I think it's good. But I don't know."

"Do you want kids?"

"Well, that was random."

"Just answer the damn question."

"Yes, I want kids. What about you?"

"I want kids too. But I'm surprised that you know you want kids. All the girls I dated either didn't know or didn't want any."

"Well, that doesn't surprise me."

"How many kids do you want?"

"Three to five."

"I want four or five."

"Well, it's nice to know we have the same number in mind."

"Yeah, it is."

"What are you going to do once you're a lawyer?"

"Well, I want to get a job at a firm. Work with them for a couple of years. Maybe get a promotion here or there. All the while saving up for my own firm or go into business with someone. That way I can work at home."

"Sounds like a plan. That's basically what I want to do. That way when I'm in my own practice I can make up my own hours. I'll be home way more often then."

I heard the front door slam and knew we were safe.

"I need to get dressed."

I got up and took my tank top off. I turned around when I heard a sharp gasp and saw Edward wide-eyed. It's a good thing I had a bra on or his eyes might have popped out.

"What? It's not like you haven't seen me like this before," I said as I walked over to him and stood in between his legs.

"I'll never get used to it," he said putting his hands on my hips and pulled me on top of him.

"If you don't let me go now we'll never leave."

"Sounds fine to me."

"I'm sure it does. But I need to get dressed."

"Fine," he sighed. I giggled at him and gave him a kiss before I got up. He looked like someone just kicked his puppy. I couldn't decide on whether or not to laugh at him. I hated it when he gave me that look.

"Don't look at me like that."

"I changed my mind."

He stood up and pulled me down on the bed again. I would have gotten up if he hadn't locked both of his arms around me.

"You're impossible."

"You like it."

"Remind me why I'm dating you."

"Because I'm sexy."

"That has to be it."

He laughed and kissed me. I was enjoying it until a thought came to me. We weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend. I knew it's stupid of me to think that, but I needed to be able to call him mine. I think he noticed something was wrong because he pulled away. I was going to say something about it, but I didn't. I didn't want him to laugh at me. I didn't know what facial expression I was making, but it made Edward upset.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Bella, something is wrong."

"You'll think it's stupid."

"Anything you say is never stupid. It may be off the wall and completely random. But it's never stupid."

"It's just. . . What are we?"

"Humans?"

"No shit Sherlock."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I meant to each other. What are we?"

"Oh."

"I told you it was stupid. You don't have to ask me if you don't want to. It won't bother me," I said trying to get out of his grasp and stand up. That was the biggest lie of the century.

"Do you know how many times I've come close to asking you?"

"Twice?"

"Almost every time we've been together for the past two weeks."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was afraid you'd say no."

"I wouldn't have said no."

"Now I know. I should really listen to Alice more often."

"Why?"

"She said you would say yes."

"You're right. You should listen to her. Who all knew about it?"

"Everyone."

"Everyone except me."

"Well, yeah. But I think that's the point."

"Well, I hate it."

"Since we're on the subject. Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely. Yes, I would love to be your girlfriend."

I guess we must've fallen asleep because I jerked when I heard someone banging on the front door. Edward didn't hear anything. The lucky bastard. People should call before they started banging on my door.

I completely forgot that I was only in a bra and shorts until I opened the door. Too late to change now.

"What?" I growled.

"Well, hello to you too," Emmett retorted.

"You woke me up."  
"Good. You need to get up. It's noon," Alice said.

"Exactly. It's too early."

"You are exactly like Edward," she complained.

"Nice bra," Jasper teased.

"Thanks."

"Did you two do _anything_ last night?" Emmett asked.

"Sleep."

"Be nice. That's not any of your business," Rose said smacking him in the back of his head.

"Are you ever going to let us in?" Alice asked.

"No," I said but let them in anyway.

"Where's Edward?" Jasper asked.

"Asleep."

"Where?"

"In my room."

"Are you _sure_ you didn't do anything?" Emmett asked again.

"If we did I would've answered the door naked."

"I don't believe you."

"Fine by me. Are you guys hungry?"

"Yeah," Rosalie answered.

"I don't really feel like cooking. So how about some pizza?"

"Sounds good,"she said.

"How many should we get and where should we get it?"

"Three and Pizza Hut," Alice replied.

"What kind?"

"Pepperoni, cheese, and Canadian bacon?" Emmett suggested.

"Sounds fine. Who wants to order it? I've got to put a shirt on. It's cold."

"I bet your cold," Emmett muttered.

"I heard that!" I yelled walking down the hall. I went in my room and sat on the bed. He looked so peaceful sleeping. I didn't want to wake him up. But I was going to be mean and do it anyway.

"Edward," I whispered kissing him. "Wake up."

"No," he grumbled.

"If you're hungry you'll get up."

"I'm hungry. But it's not food I'm craving."

"Well, food is going to have to satiate you for awhile because I already ordered the pizzas."

"Pizzas? As in more than one?"

"Yes. As in more than one."  
"How many did you get?"

"Three."  
"How are we going to eat three pizzas by ourselves?"

"They're not just for the two of us."

"Who else is here?"

"If you'd shut up for two seconds I'd tell you."

"Sorry."

"It's alright," I laughed. "Your brothers and sisters are here."

"What?"

He took off running down the hall. Great. He's going to start yelling any second now.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?"

I had better go calm him down before he blew a gasket.

"Edward, calm down!" I yelled walking into the kitchen. He took one look at me and went completely silent. Damn it! I forgot to put a shirt on.

"Why don't you have a shirt on?"

"Well, I took it off the second time we woke up. But then you convinced me to go back to sleep. Then they knocked on the door and I answered it in just my bra because I forgot I wasn't wearing a shirt. Then I went to put one on when I woke you up. But then you yelled and well I forgot to put on a shirt. Again."

"Here," he said handing me his wife beater.

"Thanks."

"Now, what are you guys doing here?" he calmly asked.

"Emmett and I wanted to spend time with our new baby sister," Jasper explained. Was I really a new sister to them? I'd always wanted an older brother. I'd been the oldest one for way too long. Let someone else take the reins for a little bit. I only asked for one though. But two is even better.

"Where are you guys taking her?"

Emmett had this big grin on his face. I didn't know if I should be excited or scared. I was betting on the latter though.

"We're actually taking her to two places," Ethan said.

"There aren't very many interesting and fun places in Oklahoma guys," I said. I didn't think they heard me. Either that or they ignored me. It didn't hurt my feelings. I was used to people not listening to me.

"The first place is Frontier City," Jasper told me. Great. A place with a lot of people. I hadn't been there in years. I never wanted to go back either. You had to wait in line for hours just to ride one ride. I was trying not to show any form of disgust on my face, but I guess I didn't hide it well enough. Edward noticed it.

"Um, guys? I don't think that's a good idea," he said. Damn it Edward! Just because I didn't want to go didn't mean I wouldn't go. I wanted to spend time with them. If this was where they wanted to go then I'd go. I threw a look at him that told him to shut up or he'd be in big trouble. He shut up.

"I think it sounds like fun," I said. Edward seemed to get the hint.

"Great. We're all going to the second place tomorrow," Jasper told everyone.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"White Water Bay!" Emmett yelled. Oh, yay. Another crowded place. It wasn't even that fun. Why couldn't we just go to the mall or something? There weren't anywhere near as many people there. The things I did for people.

"Okay," I said. "Oh! I have to be back before four o'clock."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"Because I have to watch the kids."

"Do we have to leave when they get here?" Alice asked.

"No. You guys can stay."

"Great!"

After we ate I got dressed then we took Emmett's truck to Frontier City. Since I was the smallest I got to sit in the middle. Not that I minded. His truck was pretty big. So I had elbow room.

"We should probably leave around 3 o'clock if we want to get you home in time," Jasper suggested.

"Okay," I said.

"So, I heard that you're going to be a lawyer in social services," Emmett started.

"Yes. But I don't know about either of you."

"Do you want me or Jasper to go first?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Want me to go first Jasper?"

"That's fine."

"Okay. Well, I'm twenty-three. I go to the University of Connecticut. I'm going to be an accountant. I have one year left before I get my degree. And I live in an apartment with Rose in Storrs. I think that's about it."

"Accounting?"

"I'm good with numbers."

"I never would've guessed."

"Why are people so surprised when I tell them that?"

"It's because you look too big to have a brain. It doesn't help that you have the attention span of a two-year-old," Jasper teased.

"Okay. What about you Jasper?" I asked laughing.

"Well, I'm twenty-one. But I guess you already knew that. I'm going to Central Connecticut State University. I'm studying to be a history professor. Alice and I live in an apartment in Kensington. Since we go to different colleges we live halfway between the two. I have two years left. Plus a year of student teaching."

"Where do you want to teach?"

"I don't know yet. Probably at the university I'm at now."

"That makes sense."

When we got there they went straight to the gate which was weird because you had to go to the ticket booth first.

"Um guys? Where are you going?"

"We already have the tickets," Jasper explained.

"Oh."

Emmett was jumping up and down with excitement. He had enough energy for the both of us. I was nowhere near as excited as he was. I didn't like this place. There were too many people here. Especially stupid kids who did stupid things and their parents didn't care. I think that was the main reason why I don't like it here. But being the nice person that I was I wouldn't tell them that. At least they weren't not making me converse with people. Hopefully I wouldn't see anyone I knew.

"Bella, is that you?"

Damn it. Spoke too soon. Maybe if I pretended I didn't hear him he'd go away.

"It is you!"

Damn it! Why couldn't the world just swallow me whole? This guy just couldn't take a hint. He knew that I didn't like him. And I was not going to change my mind anytime soon.

"Hey, Brenden," I weakly said. I felt Emmett and Jasper behind me, but didn't turn around. Maybe if I got lucky they'd beat him to a pulp.

"How's your summer been so far?" he asked.

"Absolutely wonderful," I replied thinking about Edward.

"That's good. Weston! I was wondering where you ran off to."

Great! Why didn't you just kill me now while you were at it. My day had just gone from okay to worse in a second. What was next? The first ride we got on crashed and I was the only one who died? No! I take it back!

"Dude, I told you that I was getting something to drink," Weston said.

"Oh, yeah! But look who I ran into."

Well, so much for ignoring him.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hey."

"What happened between you two? You guys were like best friends?" Brenden asked.

Talk about awkward. Weston looked just as uncomfortable as I did.

"Bella, come on. Emmett wants to ride the Diamond Back." Jasper eased.

"Okay," I said walking away.

"Bella, wait!" Weston called.

"What?"

"I've missed you."

"Excuse me?"

"I've missed you."

"Do you remember why we stopped talking or did you hit your head?" I asked angrily.

"Yes, I remember. I know you think that night was a mistake, but I don't. I—"

"Wait. What?"

"I don't regret what we did."

"I thought you didn't remember."

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship. But you see how well that turned out."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"You wouldn't talk to me."

"And I still don't want to talk to you."

"Why not?"

"Because you gave me a reason to hate you now."

"How did I do that?"

"How can you be so dense?"

"Tell me what I did."

"No. I'm going to let you figure it out by yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me I want to have some fun with my brothers."

"Brothers? I thought Alex and Gabe were your brothers."

"They are."

"Then why did you say these two guys were your brothers?"

"Because they are."

"How is that possible?"

"She's dating my younger brother!" Emmett yelled frustrated.

"You're dating someone?" Weston weakly asked. I would've felt sorry for him if he hadn't lied to me. I couldn't believe him! At one point in time I trusted him. He always came to me to tell me stuff. He knew he could tell me anything and I wouldn't judge him. Why couldn't he tell me this? And here I thought I ruined our friendship.

"Yes, I am."

"Well, isn't that awesome!" Brenden exclaimed.

"Shut up Brenden!" Weston and I yelled. I wanted to smile. We were always telling Brenden to shut up. We both knew he liked me. We all knew I didn't like him. But that didn't stop him from trying to win me over. Weston always used to get so mad at him when he hit on me. Wait a minute. Always getting mad at Brenden plus getting upset over the fact that I was dating someone equals… oh my god! He liked me! No, no, no. That couldn't be it. He never said anything... which would be why he lied to me about that night. I mean, I knew he always teased me about getting together with him, but I thought it was just that. Teasing. I never took him seriously. Ugh. Why did my life have to be so damn complicated?

"Look, I have to go. I was supposed to have fun today. Not feel like shit. I'll see you around or something," I said walking off with Emmett and Jasper. Okay, I was going to forget this ever happened and enjoy the rest of the day. Or at least try to anyway.

"What was that all about?" Jasper asked.

"I'll tell you later. For now I just want to forget it ever happened."

"Okay. What do you want to ride first?"

"I was thinking the Diamond Back."

"Yes!" Emmett shouted pumping his fist into the air. And so the day went on…until we ran into Weston again. At that point it was almost time to leave. We still had a little less than an hour left, but Jasper suggested that we could get something to eat if we left then. I think he knew how uncomfortable and upset I was though.

We made it back to my house around 3:30. Edward, Alice, and Rose were watching a movie (I told them they could stay at my house while we were gone). I couldn't tell what it was though because I was seething. That stupid son of a mother fucking bitch Weston had the audacity to follow us to Arby's. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to kill him. Not literally, but close enough. I told him I hated him. What does it take for him to get it? This was why I didn't like people.

I slammed the front door completely forgetting about my mom's Precious Moments until one of them fell off the wall and onto the floor.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled. I was lucky it didn't break.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked.

"I ran into Weston three times today!"

"What did he do?"

"He lied to me! He remembers. And he doesn't regret it. He misses me and he's upset over the fact that I'm seeing you."

"He remembers?"

"Yeah. He said he wasn't as drunk as I was. Ugh. I wish I could remember. No, wait. I'm glad I don't remember. He probably sucked."

"I don't want you anywhere near him."

"Fine by me."

"Is anyone else confused?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Rose replied.

"I went to a party with some friends, got drunk, and slept with Weston."

"I get the feeling that's only the short version," Emmett said.

"That's because it is."

"Why was he so surprised when Emmett told him you were dating Edward?"

Jasper asked.

"I never dated anyone in high school."

"Why not?" Alice asked.

"The guys were assholes. I don't do assholes."

"I can see why you didn't date. I wouldn't either if I lived here," Emmett said.

"Bella, who do those cars belong to?" Mom asked walking through the front door. "Oh, hello."

"Mom, this is Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett. Guys this is my mom, Reneé."

"Hi," they greeted.

"What are they doing here?" she asked.

"Mom, please don't. I'm not in the mood."

"Fine. Here's the kids' stuff. I don't know when we'll be back. Is there stuff to eat?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Love you bye."

"Love you bye."

"I want to watch _Transformers_," Alex said.

"You always want to watch _Transformers_."

"Please?"

"Fine. But if you get up one time I'm turning it off."

"But what if I have to go pee?"

"Then go pee."

"You won't turn it off?"

"I will if you have to go to the bathroom every ten seconds."

"Yay!"

"Bella, who are these people?" Madison asked.

"Maddy, this is Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper. Guys, this is Madison, Nathan, Elizabeth, Alex, Gabe, and Robby."

"Is Edward your boyfriend?"

"How do you know I have a boyfriend?"

"I heard Aunt Reneé telling everyone. My dad didn't seem too happy."

"Of course he wasn't. Why don't you go put your stuff in my room. I'll start dinner around six okay."

"Okay."

"Bella, can we go play in the back yard?" Nate asked.

"I thought you and Alex wanted to watch _Transformers_."

"We can watch it after dinner."

"Fine."

I opened the back door and let them loose. It was always fun to watch them play together. Sometimes I just sat on the porch and watched them. They had wild imaginations. I found myself leaning against the doorway completely entranced by them. This was why I wanted to have kids. They were so fascinating. I was pulled out of my reverie when Edward wrapped his arms out of my waist.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"I don't know. Can you?"

"Maybe."

He was about to say something when I saw Alex jump off the swing. Now the other kids wanted to do it too.

"Do not jump off of that!"

"But Bella! It's fun!"

"Fine. If any of you get hurt don't come crying to me. I told you not to do it."

"That's not very nice," Edward said.

"What am I supposed to do? If I don't let them keep doing it they'll never learn they could get hurt. And besides if I did that the minute I walk back into the house they'll be doing it again."

"True. Rebellion is a powerful thing when you're a kid."

"I wouldn't know."

"How could you not know?"

I didn't answer him. Instead I just walked back into the house and started to do the dishes.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I was never a kid Edward. I was pushed into the world of adulthood before I turned five. I understood my parents' divorce. I understood that we were poor and couldn't get the brand new toy that every other kid had. I basically had to teach myself how to not want things. That way I wouldn't be upset when my mom told me we couldn't afford it. I took care of my sister because my mom worked nights. She slept during the day so she couldn't do it. Every day over the summer before Brittney could make her own bowl of cereal I would do it. She would wake me up every day at seven o'clock so I could make some cereal. I watched her eat, washed her bowl, then she climbed into my bed instead of her own to go back to sleep. I never once complained. Not to mention all the other kids I raised. To say I would be a good mother would be an understatement. So you see. I never had the chance to rebel."

I hadn't noticed everyone had come into the kitchen until I felt Alice hugging my back.

"I am so sorry," she apologized.

"What for?"

"For never being a regular kid."

"I'm not sorry Alice. If I were a regular kid I wouldn't be who I am. Completely boring and dull."

"You're not boring or dull. You're fun and interesting."

"I'm sure I am Ali."

"I'm going to try and give you your childhood back."

"You can't give someone's childhood back. They might not grow out of their childness, but they can never go back. That's the part of growing up."

"Well, I'm going to give yours back."

"This is going to be interesting."

"I've seen her do stranger things," Edward whispered in my ear.

"I'm sure she has," I laughed.

"Bella!" Maddy yelled.

"What?"

I walked outside to see Lizzy laying on the ground crying. Guess she didn't land on her feet when she jumped off the swing. I told them not to do that.

"What happened?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Lizzy was standing on the swing and Nate pushed her and she fell," Madison explained.

"Nate, why did you push her?" I asked checking to make sure Lizzy wasn't bleeding.

"It was my turn and she wouldn't get off."

"So you pushed her?"

"Yeah."

"Go in the house and sit down. Don't get up until I tell you to."

"But-"

"No. In the house. Now!"

"Fine!" he yelled crying.

"Elizabeth, you're fine. There's no blood, broken bones, or even a cut. Stop crying. Don't stand up on the swing again. Got it?"

"O-okay."

"That goes for all of you. No more jumping off the swing. I told you guys you would get hurt."

"Okay," Maddy and Alex said.

These kids are going to give me heart attack before I turn twenty. I wiped the dirt off Lizzy's clothes and walked back inside. Edward was standing in the doorway. I didn't want to go in the house anyway.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"I want to talk to you."

"Okay. We can't talk in the house?"

"We could. But we're not going to."

"Alright. What's up?"

"Why did you go with the guys even though you didn't want to?"

"Because that's where they wanted to go. And they were excited. I didn't want to upset them by saying I didn't want to go there. It really didn't matter to me where we went anyway. All I wanted to do was spend time with them. And I did. Besides, I had fun with them. Had I been with anyone else I would've killed them before we even got to the park."

"You don't want to go to White Water tomorrow do you?"

"Nope."

"But you're going to go anyway?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because that's where you guys want to go. I'm not going to be a bitch and tell you to pick a different place. I'm not that mean."

"I'm beginning to think you're not mean at all."

"I beg to differ my little brother," Emmett said.

"Why? Did you witness her wrath this afternoon?" he asked.

"We both did," Jasper laughed.

"What did she do?"

"After that Weston guy said that he remembered she got pissed. She looked like she was ready to tear his head off," Ethan said.

"I was about to. Then I had an epiphany."

"Which was?" Alice asked. I hadn't noticed she and Rose came in the kitchen. I realized that he either really liked me or thought he was in love with me."

"He better stay away from you," Edward growled.

"I think he will for awhile. At least until he thinks I calmed down. He's got another thing coming though. He better hope he doesn't run into me for a long time."

"Do you have anything for dessert?" Emmett asked.

"No."

"I guess that means that we have to go to the store. Who wants to come with me?"

"I'll go," Alice said. Rose and Jasper also went with them leaving Edward and me by ourselves. Well, almost by ourselves if you didn't want to count the kids.

"Are you going to stay here again tonight?" I asked.

"Only if you want me too."

"I do. But it will be pretty crowded. I'd understand if you didn't."

"I'll stay. I promise."

It sounded like he meant something even deeper than that. But that could've been my imagination.

"Bella, I'm hungry," Nate whined.

"I'm about to cook dinner right now."

"Okay!"

"Crazy kid," I muttered.

Finally freed of distractions, I started to cook dinner. Since there were going to be a lot of mouths to feed, and they were hungry now, I thought spaghetti would be the easiest to make. By the time I had everything in a pan and on the stove cooking, Emmett and the others returned with my all-time favorite dessert: cheesecake.

"Who's idea was it to get cheesecake?" I asked.

"Emmett's," Alice replied.

"It's his favorite," Rose said.

"Em, you are my new favorite person."

"Hey! I thought I was your favorite person," Edward objected.

"You are my favorite boyfriend. Emmett is my favorite person."

Alice gasped. I automatically thought something horrible was wrong.

"What's wrong?" I asked slightly panicking.

"He finally asked you?"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"God, Alice. Don't do that! You scared the living shit out of me."

"Oh. I'm sorry," she apologized. "But he did ask you?"

"Yes. He asked me."

"When?"

"This morning."

"Ha! See? What did I tell you?" she asked Edward.

"That she would say yes."

"And did she?"

"Yes, Alice. She did."

"I'd have thought you would've learned not to doubt me by now."

"Shut up."

"Okay you two. That's enough," I said.

I drained the noodles, and started putting the kids' plates together.

"Nathan, go tell everyone that dinner is done."

"Dinner's done!" he yelled while still in the living room.

"I could've done that you little shit monkey."

Regardless of who would've done it, the kids still heard the word "dinner".

"You kids wash your hands and then sit at the table."

"Where's my plate woman?" Emmett asked.

"You've got two hands. You can make your own damn plate."

"But I thought I was your favorite person?"

"You may be my favorite person, but I ain't your maid."

"Fine," he pouted.

While the kids ate dinner in the kitchen, us "big kids" sat in the living room.

"So what exactly happened at Frontier City?" Rosalie asked as she sat down on the green chair.

"What do you mean?" I asked sitting next to Edward on the couch.

"With Weston."

"Oh. Well, I ran into a mutual friend of ours and instead of shutting the fuck up he announced my presence to the entire world.

"You know what you should do?"

"No. What should I do?"

"The next time you see him you should make out with Edward in front of him."

"And what would that accomplish?"

"It would show him what he's missing," Alice added.

"I'm not going to do that."

"Why not?"

"Because that just takes too much time and energy on my part. However, if he happens to walk by while we're tongue fuckin', then that's not my problem."

"You're so bad," Alive laughed.

"No I'm not. I'm simply stating a possible situation."

"Bella?" Alex asked.

"What?"

"Can we go back outside?"

"Did you guys finish eating everything on your plates?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

"Wait. Don't you guys want-" Alice started.

"To go play outside?" I finished.

"But we have-"

"Plenty of daylight left."

"But-"

"No."

"We have-"

"Alice, shut up."

I waited until all the kids were outside to say something.

"Do _not ever_ mention anything about cheesecake to the children."

"But what if they wanted dessert?"

"Then you buy chocolate pie or ice cream."

"Why not the cheesecake?"

"Because that shit is mine."

**That last line is my favorite. And very true. You do not share the cheesecake. That's the eighth deadliest sin. If you review, I might give you a bite though.**

** ~Fell Bell~**


End file.
